


Bang and Burn

by App1e_Juice



Series: Bang and Burn [1]
Category: Badboyhalo, Dreamwastaken, GeorgeNotFound - Fandom, Sapnap - Fandom, Skeppy, a6d - Fandom
Genre: Action, Agent, Guns, M/M, Secret Agent, Spies, Spy - Freeform, mcyt - Freeform, minecraft youtuber, second story!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 43
Words: 105,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25191775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/App1e_Juice/pseuds/App1e_Juice
Summary: I update almost daily on Wattpad. You can find this story by searching “Bang and Burn” or by searching my username “App1e_Juice”.A one night stand plunges George into the world of spies and special intelligence, where he is recruited to seduce a man named Dream to get insider information on a string of murders. George knows three things for certain:1) His best friend Nick has been an agent as long as he's known him2) His one night stand is his target3) He has no idea what he signed up for*Warnings*There will be:LanguageGunsOther epic spy stuffStarted- July 7thA/N- This is a fanfic. I do not ship the irl people mentioned in the story and will take this story down if anyone expresses that they don't feel comfortable with stories being written.
Relationships: Dream/George - Relationship
Series: Bang and Burn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028179
Comments: 312
Kudos: 595





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

"He was so close!" Nick tells his coworker, Darryl. "My fingertips brushed his shoulder, but he still got away." Nick buries his face in his hands and he props himself up on his desk with his elbows. "They're taking me off of the case."

"There's no way they'll take you off, Nick!" Darryl reassures his friend. "You're one of the best hunters we've got."

Nick lowers his hands from his face. "That's the thing, though! Hunter after hunter has been sent out after him and nothing has worked. We need someone to lead him to us. Someone that can wrap him around their finger and get all of the information we need without tipping him off."

"Have you said that to our boss?" Darryl asks.

"Yeah, but I don't think any of us are dumb enough to pursue him like that. If he finds out that he's being tricked, the guy will kill whoever is doing the job. Plus, he knows what we all look like now that he figured me out." Nick checks his watch. "Oh, shit! I gotta get home. I can't have George asking questions."

"When are you going to tell him that you're an agent?" Darryl questions. "You've been best friends for years and now that you're roommates, he's probably going to figure it out eventually."

"He's never going to know, Darryl. It'd be too dangerous if he knew." Nick packs up his desk and starts heading for the elevator. "I'll see you tomorrow Darryl!"

The whole drive home, Nick watches as minutes pass. He told George he'd be off of work at 6, but here he was at 8, speeding down the street to make up time as if being an hour and 59 minutes late is better than being two hours late. As an agent, Nick was always prepared to lie on the spot. He was amazing at it. But George somehow saw through almost all of his lies. When George tried questioning Nick's career, he always got some answer he knew wasn't the truth. Eventually, he stopped asking what Nick did for a living.

Nick pulls up to their apartment and parks his car, rushing inside. George was laying on the couch, clicking through tv channels with a remote. When Nick opened the door, he didn't even look up from the TV.

"You're late," George says, annoyed.

Nick tenses, preparing to lie. "Yeah, sorry. I got held up doing paperwork."

George rolls his eyes. "Whatever."

"What's with the attitude?" Nick asks.

"I got laid-off," George responds.

Nick looks at George, expecting him to laugh. But when he doesn't, he realizes that George was serious. "Wait, why?"

George shrugs. "I don't know much. All I know is that they didn't have the money to support another worker and after a game of 'eenie meenie minie moe', I was the lucky one that got fired."

"I can cover your rent for the time being. You focus on getting another job," Nick says. His phone chimes as he gets a message from Darryl, saying to call him ASAP.

George turns off the TV and puts the remote down. "Unfortunately, not many people are hiring coders right now. I'll keep checking every day, but it may be a bit before I even get an interview."

"Sorry George, I got to call my coworker real quick. I'll be back in a few." Nick heads off to his bedroom, locking the door behind him just as he gets a call from Darryl. "Calm down, I was just about to call you, Darrie."

"Hello, Nick," he hears his boss's voice say. Nick checks his phone and sees that he was added into a group call with Darryl and his boss. "Darryl came by my office and reminded me about your idea to use other means to capture Dream. After some talking, we have decided to start a new program where we hire someone to seduce the criminal and we want you to be a part of that."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not into men like that. I'd have a hard time seducing him," Nick says, partially confused.

Darryl laughs as their boss explains further. "No, Nick, you'd be in charge of whoever we hire to get to Dream. You wouldn't do the flirting yourself. I'll send you the info. You and Darryl will be working on this together."

"Sounds like a plan! I'll confirm when I've received the information." Nick hears his boss hang up and decides to talk to Darryl about their new project. "So, who do you think is going to have to seduce this dude?"

"I honestly don't know," Darryl admits. "I know the boss mentioned hiring multiple people and sending them all in to see which one Dream takes a liking to. We know a lot about him, but his sexuality is not in our database."

"Well, good luck to whoever has to get with him," Nick says. "That's not an easy job to fulfill."

"So was George mad at you when you got back?" Darryl asks.

"It's hard to tell. He got laid off today so whether I was back in time or not, he'd be miserable."

Darryl gasps. "That's it! Nick, get George to seduce Dream!"

Nick laughs. "Yeah, no. That's never going to happen. I wouldn't let him. Besides, I don't think he's confident enough with himself to pull off something like that." Nick then hears a knock at his door. "Hang on one sec." Nick opens the door to see George dressed up in black skinny jeans and a white shirt with a flannel wrapped around his waist.

"I'm going out," he says. "You can join me if you want. I'm just going to our usual spot."

Nick shakes his head. "Sorry, not tonight George. I'm going to catch up on some sleep."

George shrugs. "Suit yourself. I'll let you know if I'm not coming home tonight."

"Ooo it's going to be one of those nights, huh?" Nick teases.

George rolls his eyes. "Probably not. I'm not looking to sleep with anyone. It's just routine to tell you that if I somehow do, I'll let you know." George grabs his keys and leaves.

Nick unmutes his phone to hear Darryl yelling at him front he other line. "NICK! HE'S BEEN SPOTTED!"

"Wait, someone saw Dream?" Nick asks, adrenaline starting to pump through his veins.

"Yeah! The boss sent us his location and is sending us with two people to send in to seduce Dream. I'll be by to pick you up in a minute. Be ready!" Before Nick and respond, Darryl hangs up.

Nick quickly changes from his nice button up and slacks into a black pair of sweatpants and a black tee shirt. He pulls his bulletproof vest on, then puts a black sweatshirt on over it. He ties up his sneakers just in time to hear his phone chime. Darryl was here. He runs out of his apartment and down the steps as the door to their black van flies open.

Nick jumps in, being careful not to hit the monitors on the inside. Darryl was typing away on a computer as a driver from their company took them to their destination.

"Ok, update me, Darryl," Nick says. "What's the mission?"

"Dream was spotted at bar downtown and appeared to be alone. We are going to send in the plants and see if they can lure him out of the bar," Darryl explains, motioning to the back of the van. Tucked away in between the computer screens and keyboards was a man and a woman, both dressed like they were going on a date. Nick recognized them both as people that worked for his company, but not on the Dream case.

"We'll be at Bittersweet Apple in five minutes, get ready," Darryl says, still typing away on his keyboard.

Nick's heart drops. "The Bittersweet Apple?"

Darryl nods. "Yeah. It's a large bar that has some cheap drinks tonight."

Nick rubs his hands through his hair. "I know exactly what bar it is. That's George's bar. He's there now."

"Goodness! Ok. We just have to be extra careful that he doesn't see you," Darryl says. "You'll be on camera duty. I'll sit on the inside to keep an eye on our plants."

Nick's palms start to get sweaty. Just the thought of George being near him while he was working made him nervous. Dream was a dangerous man and he didn't want George getting hurt. As they pull up to the bar, Nick looks through the window and sees George sitting up at the bar, playing on his phone while he waits to be served.

"Ok, Nick. The cameras are pulled up on the monitors. All earpieces are on and ready to go," Darryls says, putting his earpiece in. "Which one is George again?"

Nick points to him. "He's at the bar. He's the one with brown hair and the accent."

Darryl nods. "Ok. I'll keep an eye on him. You never know what Dream would do if he knew we were here."

"Not helping, Darryl!" Nick says as he logs into one of the unused computers. He pulls up a black document and titles it, "Dream Notes November 10th". "I'm ready. Good luck."

The woman walks into the bar first. She settles in a seat at the bar, far away from George and orders a virgin fruit drink of some sort. After fifteen minutes, the man enters and struts over to one of the tables with people sitting at it. He seemed to be very charismatic which made Nick feel hopeful. This plan may work. Darryl was the last one to enter, placing himself in an empty booth in the back corner of the bar to observe everything.

Through Nick's earpiece, he hears, "Bad to Sapnap. We're in position. Over."

"Hear you loud and clear," Nick says as he observes the bar. After some time of waiting, he finally sees him.

Dream.

Dream walks out of the back room and begins wondering around the bar, saying hi to people as he goes. The woman was up first. She gets up from her spot and confidently walks up to Dream. Through Nick's earpiece, he could very clearly hear everything being said.

"Hey there, big boy. I haven't seen you around here before," the woman says, touching Dream's arm. She was good at this. She knew her way around a man.

Dream laughs nervously. "Sorry, I'm not interested." He gently grabs her hand and takes it off of his arm and walks away.

"Wow. I don't think I've ever seen a man turn Aliah down before," Darryl says. "She's the best we've got."

"Send the guy in," Nick says.

"Alright, Marco. You're up," Darryl says just as Dream takes a seat at the bar.

Marco gets up and walks towards Dream. He makes it further than Aliah did which made Nick hopeful, but Dream seemed distracted. He kept looking at something behind Marco and, eventually, stopped responding to him and focused his attention on whatever was behind him.

"Sorry, you seem great, but I'm not interested," Dream says as he stands up, leaving Marco on his own. Nick begins to feel a panic as Dream takes a seat next to George and begins talking to him. At this point, George had a good couple of drinks in him and had a great buzz going, which only worried Nick more.

"Darryl," Nick says, trying to keep his cool, "Get closer to George."

He sees Darryl shake his head through the window. "I can't. If Dream recognizes me, we've blown the mission."

"It's already blown! He's being drawn tot he wrong person!" Nick shouts. He pulls out his phone and sends a text to George, asking how his night is going. He watches George look at his phone, but then shoves it into his pocket as he gets deeper into conversation with Dream. "Get him out of there, Darryl!" Nick commands. "I'm not letting my best friend do this!" He then watched in horror as Dream grabs George's hand and pulls him towards the door of the bar. "DARRYL GET HIM OUT!" He practically screams through his earpiece. Darryl doesn't budge. Nick starts to get out of the car, but then notices the gun holstered on the side of Dream's pants. It took everything in him to not get his friend, but he know that if he showed his face to Dream, he'd kill them both.

Dream gestures for George to get into the passenger seat of his car as he gets into the driver's seat. That's when Nick gets a text from George.

Hey Nicky! I made a friend and I won't be home tonight. Wish me luck 😘

Not only was George incredibly drunk, he was now on his way to sleep with the enemy.

———

Word Count: 2145

Published: July 7th


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

George wakes up in a bed that isn't his own. The mattress was a lot firmer and his body ached. He opens his eyes and looks around. He was in a hotel room of some sort. The walls were coral colored and had paintings hung on the wall. The bed itself was white. George sits up, but becomes overwhelmed with a headache. He throws the blanket off to get up, but nearly screams.

I'm naked. Why am I naked? He thought. His question was answered as a tall, blonde man came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. His skin was glowing and wet from the shower he had finished taking. Holy shit! I slept with someone! He screamed in his head.

He locks eyes with George for a moment, then looks away. "I'm sorry. I swear I wasn't trying to look."

George looks to the side of his bed and finds his clothes. He quickly slips into his underwear and pants, then tells the man, "You can look. I'm decent." The man silently goes to the other side of the bed where his clothes were as George slips on his shirt. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry," George says. "I was having a rough day yesterday. I'm not one to do these sort of things."

The man waves his hand towards George. "No worries. You and I both were having a rough time, I guess." He slips into his button up shirt. "Do you need a ride somewhere?"

George shakes his head. "I think I'm ok. I'm just going to text my friend."

The woman nods. "Ok, just let me know if you do need a ride. I ordered room service, by the way. I didn't know what you liked so I got a little bit of everything. There's also some coffee in the kitchen."

George walks out of the bedroom into a huge living space complete with a kitchen and large dining area. A large selection of breakfast food is spread across the table. The room was so nice, George almost didn't believe he was in an actual hotel anymore. But after spotting a binder with information about the hotel, he was able to confirm he was just in a really nice room.

The man walks out into the living room, his shirt still completely unbuttoned, showing off his muscular chest. His dress pants hung loosely on his hips and his hair was still messy. George couldn't help but stare as the man spoke to him.

"I hope you can find something there that you like. You're also welcome to take anything with you," the man says. He starts to button up his shirt to George's disappointment. "I'm sorry, this is going to make me sound like an ass, but could you please remind me of your name?"

George laughs. "I'm George. Don't feel bad, I don't think I even asked for your name last night."

The man smiles. "I don't know if I should feel better or worse. Well, George, I'm Clay."

"It's nice to meet you," George says as he grabs a plateful of bacon.

Clay smiles. "And you too, George." As Clay grabs a plate and starts picking out his breakfast, George can't help but stare at him some more. Drunk George had great taste.

"You're doing an awful lot of a one-night stand," George points out. "You bring me to a fancy hotel, you buy a five course breakfast, and you make me coffee. That's a lot of money and time to spend on someone you're never seeing again."

The man gives him a look. "Um, you said that you're paying for all of this." George's eyes fill with panic for a moment, but soften when Clay starts wheezing. "Oh my god, I didn't mean to scare you. It's a joke! I was just trying to make you laugh, I swear."

George relaxes and lets out a light laugh. "Well, you got me."

Clay shakes his head. "Ok, honestly? I've never had a one-night stand before. This is all new to me. Plus, I've never slept with a guy so gorgeous before."

George blushes as he grabs a cream cheese pastry from a plate in from of him. The night before was hard for George to remember. He could recall meeting Clay and getting into his car, then next thing he knew, they were in bed together.

His thoughts are interrupted when Clay begins speaking again. "I was also sort of hoping I'd get to see you again. Not in this sort of setting, of course. Like, on a date."

"Alright, sure. Why not?" George says. He heads into the bedroom and grabs his phone, then hands it to Clay. "Here, add yourself to my contacts. I'll text you." Clay happily types his number into George's phone, then hands it back to him. George texts a simple "hi" to him so that Clay can save his number.

Clay smiles. "Alright, I'll shoot you a text in a little bit. I have to head off to work." Clay takes a bite out of a pastry and opens up the door. "Don't worry about checkout. I own this place. Stay as long as you need to. Bye Georgie!"

Hey Nicky! I made a friend and I won't be home tonight. Wish me luck 😘

George waves. "Bye Clay!" As soon as the door shuts, George opens up his text messages between him and Nick from the high before.

George

Hey Nicky! I made a friend and I won't be home tonight. Wish me luck 😘

George internally cringed. He only calls Nick 'Nicky' when he is extremely wasted.

Nick

George, I need the address of where you're going right now!

George

Dnot wory. Ill send it when I get it ill will send it.

Nick

George. Address. Now.

George

Fineeeeeerrrreeee. It's 5453 Pine Street. Ttylxox

Just as George prepares to close the app, he gets a new text from Nick.

Nick

I'm outside. Get your ass out here now.

George makes sure he has everything and makes his way downstairs. The lobby was beautiful. The elevator, hand rails, and decor were made out of a beautiful blue stained glass. It gave the whole place an extra level of class that George didn't think was possible. He definitely felt out of place walking through. Everyone was dressed so expensive, but here he was, wearing the same clothes as he was the night before.

He goes outside and looks around for Nick's car, but doesn't see it anywhere. He shoots Nick a text, asking where he was. Nick replies, telling him that he's on the side of the building that isn't facing the highway. George follows Nicks instructions, but only finds black Can with dark windows sitting by the sidewalk. George decides to call Nick.

"Hey, dude, where are you? I don't see you anywh-" he stops when the van door flies open and someone drags him into it. "NICK! IM IM A VAN! HELP ME!" He screams as he fights off the person holding him.

"George, stop fighting me!" Nick says from behind him. "It's me. It's Nick. Calm down!"

George relaxes a little and turns to face his friend. "Dude, you look like shit!"

"LANGUAGE!" A man from the front seat yells.

"You look like you haven't slept all night!" George says.

"That's because I haven't slept all night, George! I stayed up to make sure you were alright," Nick responds, sipping from a cup of coffee.

George looks around and attempts to take in his surroundings. "Why did you pull me into a black van filled with computers?"

Nick rubs his face. "Because some people from my work want to hire you to do something that I'm totally against, but have no say in." He points to a seat next to his. "Buckle up. It's time I tell you about my job." George sits down without a word, eager to learn more about his friends career.

As the car begins to move, Nick starts by saying, "I'm a secret agent."

George giggles. "You're stupid, Nick. Of all things you could've come up with, that's what you've decided on?"

Nick pulls his badge out of his pocket and hands it to George. "I work for a company that specializes in getting information about big crimes in and around Tampa, Florida. Right now, we've been working on hunting a man down that we suspect id behind a long line of murders. We've found him, but he always manages to get away when we try to get close to him. My boss has decided that we take a special approach with this case and that's where you come in."

George inspects the badge as Nick talks. He wasn't lying. The badge had his real name, his birthday, and his signature along with his thumb print and a string of numbers called his ID. But in the bottom, in bolded text, said:

Code name: Sapnap

"Sapnap?" George asks, reading it out loud.

Nick nods. "Yeah. When we're out on a job, it's not safe to use our real names, so we've come up with code names for ourselves. It's just a protection thing."

"Wait, so this is real?" George asks.

Nick sighs. "Yes George. It's real. And my company needs you to join us."

George laughs. "Look, Nick, I believe that this is real, but there is no way I'm joining you."

"I thought you'd say that," the man in the passenger seat says, "so I've prepared a pitch for you. I'm Bad, by the way."

"Darryl, you can use your real name," Nick says. "George isn't working for the bad guys."

The man nods. "Sorry, it's just habit, I guess. I'm Darryl." He clears his throat as he reads off of his phone. "George, we've been after the same man for almost a year. During the duration of our hunt, every agent has been sent out to gather information. We've tried many different tactics and strategies, yet he always manages to run away or hide before we get any information. By now, he's learned our faces and almost all of our code names, making it too dangerous to get near him. But last night, we watched you do the impossible. You not only got his attention, but you went and slept with him, which is unheard of."

"WAIT!" George yells, stopping Darryl. "You're telling me that the guy I slept with last night may or may not be a wanted criminal?"

"Yes, now please let me finish!" Darryl says. "Our boss is willing to hire you on just for this case and he's already stated that he's willing to pay you $1000 a day to work with us."

George chokes on the breath he was taking in. "$1000?!"

Nick nods. "Yeah. We need information and you've already gotten his attention."

"Are you listening to yourselves?!" George yells. "Do you realize how dangerous this is?!"

Nick nods. "Oh trust me, I'm aware. But not only will you get some basic training, you'll always have two bodyguards at all times as well as some gadgets to help keep you safe. You'll always wear an earpiece and we will fit you with some sort of camera when we can." He sighs. "George, I hate this as much as you do, but we need you. Please. Please do this for me."

The black van pulls up to a large office building as George responds with, "Fine. I'll give it a shot."

Nick opens the door to the van. "Darryl, take George in to talk to our tech guys and get him a profile. I'm going to stop by the boss' office to let him know that we are a go!"

Darryl smiles as he gestured to the large building. "George, welcome to Forte! We can talk more inside." Darryl leads George to the front door, scanning his badge to make the large doors open.

The lobby was large with multiple elevators and receptionists working at desks. People were coming in and out of conference rooms, carrying stacks of papers or talking to each other as they quickly go. George thought it looked like chaos, but to Darryl, it was a sign that people were hard at work.

Darryl points to the elevator on the left. "That elevator takes you to non-business rooms. I'll have Nick show you around once he's done with the big man. The one on the right takes you to the offices and conference rooms that aren't on this floor, as well as our technology rooms. You and I are going to a private conference room that we've been given while we work on the Dream case."

George nods as Darryl hits the call button. The elevator opens up and he steps inside. "Once you have your own keycard, make sure you never enter an elevator without it. You will get stuck until someone else calls the elevator. I made that mistake once." Darryl laughs to himself as he recalls the memory. "Until then, don't come in here alone. Honestly, don't go anywhere alone. You'll get lost." Darryl pulls a keycard out of his back pocket and holds it up against a censor that glows green once it finishes reading it. Darryl hits the button to the tenth floor. "You'll be spending almost all of your time on the tenth floor. That's where our room is."

The elevator opens up to a neat, quiet hallway with multiple doors. At the end of the hall is a room with double doors, labeled "Dream". Darryl places his hands on the doorknobs. "Ok, George, be prepared to meet some of the greatest minds in technology you've ever met!" Darryl excitedly opens the doors.

Inside the room are two guys standing at opposite ends of the room, rows of computers and desks in between them. One of them tosses an M&M into the air and the other one catches it in his mouth. They both cheer loudly like they just won the Super bowl. Darryl clears his throat, catching their attention.

They stare blankly at Darryl for a minute before one of them says, "So, as I was saying, if we have any hope at cracking into the daily code, we need to run it through multiple programs to find the message."

Darryl scoffs and turns to George. "I promise, when they aren't being muffins, they are really good at what they do." He turns back to the two in the room. "Take a break from throwing food and come mee the newest member of our team!"

The one who caught the candy in their mouth holds out his hand. "Hi! I'm Zak! And that's Vincent."

"George," George says, shaking his hand.

Zak looks him up and down. "Damn. I see why Dream wanted a piece of you."

"Language!" Darryl says, elbowing him.

Zak laughs. "Dude, it's a joke. I swear. Just a joke."

"Ignore him," Vincent says in a thick French accent. "He's stupid. Welcome to the team."

"So, Darryl, what can we do for you?" Zak asks.

"I need you to set George up in the database. Get him a login and all that," Darryl says.

Zak opens up his computer to multiple lines of code. "Give me a second to close this down. I swear, the boss's daily codes get harder and harder."

"What are daily codes?" George asks.

"Our boss writes encrypted messages and send them out to all of the tech teams everyday. Whoever solves it the fastest gets dinner for their team. Vincent and I got stuck, though." Just before Zak and close out of it, George stops him.

"Mind if I take a crack at it?" George asks.

Zak shrugs. "Knock yourself out. We probably won't win at this rate anyway." Zak watches as George types away on the keyboard, then reaches for a piece of paper and a pen. He draws a grid and begins filling it out with ease. Zak looks at George's work in disbelief.

"Ok, if I did this right, the code is 'Say Quack'," George says.

Zak gets up and presses the intercom system and connects to their boss.

"Who is this?" A deep voice asks over the speakers.

"Skeppy to Techno," Zak replies. "Um....quack?"

"Congratulations! You've won tonight's free dinner. Stop by the lounge at 5:30 to claim your prize. Good job figuring it out. Agent Sapnap is headed your way." And with that, Zak takes his finger off of the intercom, ending the call.

"Wow. Just wow. I need you for my tech team!" Zak says. He looks at the grid George had made. "I would've never thought to run it through a Vingenère cipher! Looking at it now, it's so obvious. You've gotta teach me how you did that so fast!"

Just then, Nick walks in with a stack of papers in his hands. "George will have plenty of til to help you later. Right now, we need to set him up in the system." He places the stack of papers in front of George. "Don't worry, this is just some information about the company and what you're job is. Basically, you get free reign of this room and the common areas but nothing more. As a honey trap, you're expected to work with us and relay back any information you learn."

"Honey trap?" George asks.

Nick nods. "That's what we call the people that flirt with targets. They're mostly women though. I think we've got, like, two other guys that do this sort of thing."

"Ok, I'm in the system," Zak says after typing at his computer. "Any ideas for a code name?"

George shrugs. "I honestly don't know."

"Do you have any usernames that you use on video games or anything like that? I know that's how I got mine," Zak says.

George smiles to himself. "I mean, my username for those sorts of things is "Georgenotfound", but it's got my real name in it so we can't exactly use it."

"How about 404?" Vincent offers. "Agent 404."

Darryl nods. "I like that!"

George shrugs. "Works for me!"

Zak sets up his profile and within minutes, begins printing out a keycard on a small machine beside his computer. He hands it to George with a smile. "Welcome to Forte."

———

Word Count: 3062

Published: July 8th


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

"Alright, I'm going to give you a quick tour of the building as well as explain to you what each of us do," Nick says as George inspects his keycard. "So, I see you've met my team. You've got Zak who handles coding and hacking. He's always in calls with us while jobs are going on, but he does most of his work from here. Occasionally, he'll do his work from the van, but that's rare. Vincent is his partner who also handles linguistics as well as fake documents. You need anything from a electrical bill, to medical records, to passports, Vincent can make them. He also has his pilot's license so that comes in handy more than you'd expect. Then there's Darryl. He's kind of like our supervisor. He makes sure everything is running smoothly and stops us from goofing off. He's also a field agent, just like me. We go out and follow people, chase people down, and stuff like that. We do the work that you see agents do in the movies." 

George laughs. "No offense, Nick, but I can't imagine you as a secret agent."

"That means my cover is working, so I'll take it!" Nick says. "Alright, time for a super fast and basic tour of the place. Come on." 

George follows Nick down the hallway and onto the elevator, explaining that there was nothing worth mentioning in the office area besides the boss' office which was on the 20th floor on that side of the building. The two ride the elevator all the way down and enter the elevator to the right. 

"So, this elevator will take you to all sorts of extra rooms we've got." Nick presses five and, after a moment, the elevator opens up. Nick steps out. "Each team has their own floor and is the floor my team uses. It'll be pretty empty since there's only five of us. Each floor is practically the same, except the 20th floor on this side is a huge gourmet kitchen. Our boss has so much money I swear."

"Am I ever going to get to meet this mysterious boss you keep talking about?" George asks. 

Nick nods. "Yeah, but first we gotta get you out of those clothes." George looks down, realizing he was still wearing the same outfit from the night before. "You look like a mess and you reek of alcohol. Lucky for you, we've got rooms here to fix you right up." Nick points at doors as they walk by. "First door right here is a training room that also doubles as a gym. You and I are going to spend some time in there soon. First door on the left is a cafeteria where they send out lunch and dinner everyday. There's also a super fancy coffee machine in there. You'll love it. That door on the right goes into our gadget room. That's where we test out new things that Zak and Vin come up with. It also doubles as a store room for the gadgets we aren't currently using. And that door on the left is our first actual stop!" Nick opens the door to a huge room filled with clothing. It was almost the size of a department store, complete with outfits that ranged from super formal to everyday wear. 

"Damn this place is huge!" George says, looking around. 

"This is our closet. I'll submit your sizes to the boss and he'll send over clothes tailored just for you by tomorrow. Zak is around your size, though, so you should be able to find something to wear."

As George looks around at the racks of clothes, he asks, "Why do you guys have this place?" 

"Well, when you go undercover, you need your outfit to match the person you're pretending to be. We've had to crash millionaire parties and we've had to buy drugs from people, both requiring different outfits. You're welcome to take whatever you want from here except for the tee shirts. Zak will kill for those tee shirts." Nick watches in amusement as George runs his hands along all sorts of different shirts labeled "Skeppy". He always had a knack for fashion, so Nick figured he was overwhelmed with everything in there. 

After quite a bit of looking around, George settles on a pair of ripped blue skinny jeans and a button down shirt with a diamond pattern on it. "Where should I go to change?" 

Nick opens the door back to the main hallway. "Follow me." He points to the last door he'd yet to talk about at the end of the hall. He scans his keycard and the door swings open to a luxurious apartment of some kind. Everything was state-of-the-art. George didn't even want to touch anything out of fear of ruining it with his middle-class finger print. "What is this?" 

"This is our team apartment. If something ever happens and our cover is blown, we can move in here. It's safer than being out in the world," Nick explains. 

"If it's so much safer, why don't you live here?" George asks. 

"Work can get pretty stressful and it's nice to be able to go home and decompress. Besides, Zak lives here. We've all silently agreed not to use this place much to respect his privacy." Nick opens a door by the kitchen. "Bathroom is through there." 

"Why does Zak live here?" George asks. 

Nick hesitates as he recalls the day that everything went wrong. "My team has been trying to get information out of Dream for a long time now. One day, all four of us were trying to corner Dream at this fancy hotel party. It was the hotel you two slept in. Zak was the first one to get to him and tried to get information from him, but Dream eventually escaped like he always does. Later that night, someone broke into his house, stole some valuables, and left a note saying that someone was on his way to kill him. It was signed by Dream himself. Ever since then, he's been terrified to leave this building. I don't blame him."

George shakes his head. "I still don't understand how Clay is so dangerous. He seemed like a good guy."

"Clay?" Nick asks. 

George nods. "Yeah, Clay. That's Dream's name." 

"YOU GOT HIS FIRST NAME?!" Nick shouts. "HOLY SHIT!" 

"Yeah. I also have his number," George says holding up his phone. 

"WHAT?!" Nick snatches George's phone and goes to his contacts. His smiles drops when he reads the number. "Damn, we already had this one. It's a burner number he uses. He has it under a different name and address." Then, the phone dings in his hands. He reads the message and smirks. "Looks like we're going to start working today. You, my friend, have a date."

George smiles nervously. "This is all happening really fast. I don't think I'm ready."

Nick pats his back. "I know this is all a bit overwhelming, but I want you to know that I wouldn't let you do this if I didn't believe it'd work. But you got closer to Dream than any of us have ever been before. You did the impossible." He puts his hands on George's shoulders. "All you need to do is sit there, look cute, and ask questions. We will take care of the rest." He pushes him towards the bathroom. "Now go get cleaned up. There should be a basket under the sink with unused toiletries in bags. Grab the blank one and write your name on it." 

George walks into the bathroom and closes the door. He turns on the faucet and splashes cold water into his face, half expecting to wake up from whatever dream he was having. He looks at himself in the mirror and feels conflicted as he realizes it's all real. He opens up the cabinet under the sink and sees a neat little basket with bags of stuff in it. Each bag had its own little design on it with a spot for a name to be written. The basket also had a package of fabric markers in it to write his name with. There was only one bag in the basket that wasn't claimed. It was blue with a red rectangle in the middle of it. Just before he writes his name, George notices the other bags. They were labeled with everyone's code names. George smiles and writes "404" with a white marker right in the middle of the rectangle. 

George quickly changes and inspects the contents of the bag. There was a travel sized toothbrush, some cinnamon toothpaste, floss, a small tube of face wash, and a comb. George gladly used each item, attempting to look like he wasn't a hot mess. With one last glance in the mirror, George exits, feeling refreshed. 

Nick was waiting for him out in the kitchen, making himself another cup of coffee. "How much caffeine do you need?!" George asks. 

Nick glares at George. "A lot, since I had to make sure my friend wasn't going to get murdered last night." He looks up from his cup, pressing his finger to his ear. After a moment of silence, he says, "Sapnap here. Copy that. On our way." He looks at George. "It's time to get you some gadgets."

Nick leads the way back to their conference room where Zak has multiple wires connected to two different tech pieces on the table. He waves when he sees them walk in. "George, come sit. I've got some things to show you." George slides into the chair next to Zak while be behind to explain the pieces of tech next to him. He places an earpiece into George's ear. "This is your main way to communicate with us. It's got two settings and you switch between them using the switch on the side of it. The first mode allows us to hear everything you say and do while the second one makes it so that you have to press a button to be heard. If you press the button and say your code name, followed by the code name of any agent you want to talk to, you can reach them wherever you are. It's also got a small dial that you can turn to hear things that are father away. This does not leave your ear when your on a job. Got it?"

George nods. "As long as I can remember all of your code names, I should be fine." 

Zak attaches a watch to George's wrist. On the outside, it looked exactly like an Apple Watch. "Ok, this watch isn't anything too fancy. It's got a compass, a gps, and has a text screen that I will connect to the rest of us so you can communicate with us without talking. It's also got a camera in it. If you see anything that you think needs to be recorded, just hit this button on the side and it'll start. It can record up to five hours of video." He slides some sort of pad connected to his computer. "Put your fingers on here and I'll load it onto the watch. Once it's loaded, only you can get into the watch by using your finger print." 

George gently places his fingers on the pad while Zak types something into the computer. He inserts a plug onto the side of the watch and George watches as a progress bar appears on the watch. It quickly speeds from 0-100% and then flashes a logo with an "F" in the middle of it. 

"Go ahead and touch your finger to it to make sure it works," Zak says, not looking away from his computer. George taps it with his finger and a touchscreen appears with all of the features Zak had mentioned beforehand. Zak smiles. "Alright 404, last thing I need to do is set up a medical file for you and we'll be good to go!" After answering questions about allergies, current medications, and any other health conditions, George was all set to go. 

Just as they finished, a tall man walks into their conference room. Nick is the first one to take notice. "Sir! We weren't expecting you."

The man smiles. "I just wanted to welcome our newcomer." We walks over to George. "Hi, I'm Dave. I run and fund this place." He holds out his hand and George shakes it. "We are very thankful to have you aboard. I was hesitant about hiring you at first, but after hearing Nick say you two were roommates, I could tell that you'd be trustworthy. I mean, if anyone can live with Nick and not want to pull their hair out, they're a keeper!" Dave laughs at his own joke. George laughs along while Nick glares at him. "Well, I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself." He presses his finger up to his earpiece. "Techno here......copy. I'm on my way." He looks back to the group. "By the end of the week, I'd like to have an update on the progress with Dream. I'll talk to you then!" 

Nick watches Dave leave, then says, "I don't think I'll ever understand him." 

"Yeah," Vincent agrees. "I don't think I've ever met anyone with money to throw at a company like this. But hey, can't complain. It gave me a job." 

George's phone dings as he gets another text from Clay. 

Clay  
Hey! Where should I pick you up? 

"Clay wants to pick me up. Nick, can you take me home?" He asks. 

Nick gives him a weird look. "George, you can't just give him our address. He could be a criminal!" 

"Well, what should I tell him then?" George asks. 

"Tell him you'll meet him there or something," Darryl says. "We'll take our van there." 

"Actually," Zak says, "I don't think that's going to happen." 

Darryl slowly turns to him. "Zak....what did you do?" 

"I've been working on something, but it kinda killed the engine," he responds nervously. 

Nick groans. "Seriously, Zak?! What were you even trying to do?!" 

"I was making an upgrade!" Zak says. "Just take a different van." 

"But that van has all of our stuff in there! It's got files and phone cords and everything!" Nick says. 

Zak rolls his eyes. "Please. You just want your mini fridge with your coconut juice or whatever."

Nick slams his hand on the table. "It's carbonated melon milk and it SLAPS!" 

"You have a mini fridge in the van?" George asks. 

Vincent nods. "There are some days when we are stuck in the van all day. We all have our own food and drinks packed away in there. We can borrow other vans from the company, but it's not the same." 

"Well deal with it! I'll work on fixing it while you guys go off today," Zak says. 

"You're not coming with us?" George asks. 

Zak shakes his head. "I don't like to leave. Besides, you're just going on a date. You don't need tech support for that. I'll have my communicator on at all times just in case, but I won't be actively participating this time."

"We should get going," Nick says. He winks at George. "We can't keep your date waiting." 

Nick, Darryl, Vincent, and George all walk to a parking garage under the building that had rows of cars. Some were old and rusted while others were extremely fancy sports cars. The very last row was just a bunch of black vans. Right outside of the door leading to the garage was a small kiosk where a young lady sat, reading a book. 

When she notices the group walk up, she smiles. "Hey there, agents! Need a ride?" 

Nick nods. "Yeah. Skeppy broke our van so we need to borrow one." 

The girl cringes. "Yeah, I was there when the engine blew up. Not fun." 

"It BLEW UP?!" Nick yells. "He said he just killed the engine!" 

"Nick, we gotta go!" Darryl says pulling his arm while Vincent grabs the keys from the girl. "You can kill him later." George follows them as they make their way to a van right next to an empty parking spot that was charred black. Based off of Nick's expression, he could tell that it was the space that Zak probably blew up the engine at. Vincent unlocks the van and pops open the back doors for Nick and George. He tosses the keys to Darryl who gets in on the driver's side, Vincent joining him on the passenger side. 

George didn't let himself admire the van he was in earlier. It looked exactly like the one he was in right now, so he figured they all looked the same unless the teams customized it. There were two seats on each side of the van with a walk way in between them to allow people to move. There were multiple sets of monitors and keyboards that left George breathless. He had never seen such fancy pieces of technology before. He ran his hand over the keyboard in awe. Being a computer geek, he was in heaven. 

"Ok, George," Darryl says as everyone settles into their seats. "Where are we going?" 

George pulls up his conversation with Clay on his phone. "He said to park at 600 North Ashley Drive and that we'd walk to the location." 

Darryl puts the address in the gps and begins pulling out of the parking spot. "You ready for this?" 

George gulps. "Ready as I'll ever be."

———  
Word Count- 2935 

Published- July 10th


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

Darryl pulls up to a park and unlocks the doors. "Alright, we'll be nearby. As soon as you're done, we'll pick you up right here."

George nods. "Sounds good."

"Have fun on your date!" Nick yells just before George closes the door to the van.

As George stepped into the park, he began to feel overwhelmed again. When he had first met Clay, they were just two drunk guys. But now? They were a secret agent and a criminal. George still couldn't wrap his head around everything going on. Just 24 hours ago, he was being fired from his job. Now he's being paid $1000 a day to do...what exactly? No one has really made it clear what he's actually supposed to be doing. Panic started rising in his chest as he walked closer to the meeting point.

George turns the dial on the back of his earpiece so that everyone could hear him. "Um, guys? I'm not so sure that this is the best idea. I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Relax!" He hears Nick say through his headpiece. "Just ask him the questions we tell you to ask while you casually flirt with him."

"Has anyone thought this through?" He hears Skeppy say. "Like, why did we think a high class criminal would tell someone about his crimes on a first date!"

Everyone goes silent for a minute before Vincent finally says, "God we are such idiots!"

"Skeppy, get back to fixing the van!" Nick yells.

Zak sighs. "Alright, whatever. Skeppy signing off. Good luck 404."

"Ok, ok. How about this," Nick says. "Let's focus on getting basic information for now. Things like his real full name, his address, where he works, things like that. That's normal to talk about on a first day date, right?"

"Yes Nick," Darryl says. "Have you never been on a date before?"

"I totally have!" Nick says.

Before anyone has the chance to press further, George hears a voice from behind him. "George! Hey!" He turns to the source of the voice to see Clay dressed in a white shirt and blue blazer and casual black pants. He was carrying a large picnic basket and had a bright white smile on his face. The two walked towards each other until they met in the middle. "I had no idea what to do for this date, so I hope a picnic in the park is ok?"

George finds himself genuinely smiling. "It's perfect, Clay."

Clay offers his arm to George. "Shall we?" George giggles as he links their arms together. Clay leads them to a private area right by a small creek with lily pads floating on its surface. Clay unlinked his arm and puts the basket down. He grabs the large blanket off of the top of the basket and tosses it nicely onto the grass, then motions for George to sit with him.

For a moment, George forgot about everything that had happened. He found himself getting lost in Clay's eyes as he smiled at him. But everything comes back to him when he hears Nick talk again.

"Ok George. Try your best to get some basic information out of him," he says. "Good luck. We're all listening."

Clay sits down on the blanket and opens up the lid to the basket. "Sorry, I had no idea what kind of food you liked, so I went super basic with it. I swear, I'm usually better about these sort of things." Just when he finished his sentence, he pulls out a beautiful plate full of perfectly cut sandwiches. "I was sure to get an assortment because I didn't know what kind of sandwich you liked. These right here are ham and cheese and these are turkey and cheese. I also grabbed some peanut butter and jelly just in case you were vegan or something." He closes his eyes tightly. "Shit. Is vegan bread a thing? Cause I didn't get it. And please don't tell me you're not allergic to gluten. I'd feel like a total asshole if you couldn't eat any of this."

George couldn't help but stare at Clay, jaw dropped. He put in so much thought just with sandwiches. There was no way he could be a criminal, right? George giggles. "Clay, I'm spoilt for choice here. This is perfect!"

Clay then pulls out a large bag of cool ranch Doritos. "I honestly don't know if these work for chips. I want to say I vaguely remember you mentioning something about them last night in the car, but I still don't remember everything that happened so I don't know if I can trust my memory."

George smiles. "They're fine, Clay. I promise."

"I also brought cookies!" Clay blurts out. "I've got all sorts of cookies in here. And fruit! I've got, uh, strawberries, apples, oranges, and watermelon. And I've got drinks! I brought one of every can of soda I could think of because I have no idea what you prefer. I also have just water if you're not into soda." He looks up nervous. "I hope that's ok."

"You our a lot of work into this, didn't you?" George asks.

Clay shrugs. "I wanted this to be perfect. I don't usually meet people that make me as excited as you do. I really wanted to make a good impression."

George pats Clay's leg. "No one has ever out this much thought into me before. Thank you, Clay."

Clay smiles, feeling a little bit better. "Oh! I've got one more thing!" Clay pulls out a thermos that's cold to the touch. "I don't know if you're a day drinker or not or if you even want to drink at all, but I brought it just in case."

George pops the lid open and he smells the sweetness of the drink inside. "Did you seriously bring me my favorite drink?!"

Clay smiles. "Yeah! I mean, you order it every time you go to "Bitersweet Apple" so I thought I'd make you one. My treat." He smiles sweetly, then realizes how creepy his statement sounded. "I'm not a stalker, I swear." He wheezes. "I own the bar, so it's sort of my job to learn my customers usuals. In your hands, you've got your own Bittersweet Apple made by the guy who invented it."

"Did you also name the bar?" George asks, setting the thermos to the side.

"Sort of," Clay says. "I made the drink called Bittersweet Apple, but it was my partner that decided that we should name the bar after it and sell it as our signature drink."

"Well, I'm glad you made it! I'm not a huge drinker, but whatever you put in this drink is perfect. I swear, you lace it with crack or something!" George says as he reaches for a sandwich. "You know, I got to say, this date has been pretty perfect so far."

Clay relaxes a little. "Really? Great! That's....that's great." He pops open the bag of Doritos and pours some out onto a plate. "I'm sorry, I swear I'm not this much of a hot mess most of the time. You just make me so nervous."

George laughs. "You don't need to be nervous!"

"George, can I be honest with you?" Clay asks seriously.

"Oooo here we go!" George hears Nick say in his earpiece.

George nods. "Of course you can."

Clay hesitates first a moment, then says, "I'm really nervous because I pretty much can't remember anything from last night because I was too drunk and I'm trying to make up for anything bad I may have done because you're really cute and you deserve the world and I just don't know if I already ruined things last night or not." It came out a word vomit, like he had been bottling that up for a long time.

"Damn it. Never mind," Nick mumbles in George's ear.

George grabs Clay's hand and looks at him kindly. "Clay, calm down. You haven't ruined anything. I had the time of my life last night and now I get to actually talk to you like a normal person. This is lovely. All of it. You haven't blown it. I promise."

Clay's shoulders drop as he completely relaxes. The two eat their lunch while George manages to get some information out of him. He learned that Clay was 22 and owned George's favorite bar, a five star restaurant, and the hotel that they had slept in. Clay also talked about his family life, revealing that he had a younger sister. George was finding that the more he talked to Clay, the less he was believing that he was a criminal. How could someone with the perfect laugh, perfect smile, perfect everything, be dangerous? But as Clay talked, George's eyes caught a glimpse of something that made him freeze. There was a sleek, black handgun attached to his belt. His heart rate picked up speed as he looked at it. George was alone and had no way to defend himself.

"Hey, are you ok, George?" Clay asks. "You look pale."

"Keep it together 404," Vincent says in George's earpiece. "What's gotten into you?"

"I'm fine," George says, answering both of them. "Im just feeling a little nauseous."

"Darryl, who's that?" George hears Nick ask.

"I don't know," Darryl responds. He then gasps. "He's got a gun!"

"Ok. I'll handle this. Continue your date George," Nick says. George hears him shuffling around, then he says, "Sapnap signing off."

"Please don't tell me you ate something bad," Clay says, looking down at the picnic spread.

George shakes his head, trying to look like he wasn't about to shit his pants. "Nope. I'm just feeling a little nervous. I'm alright, though. I promise."

Clay smiles at him, but his eyes drift to the side of George's head. He squints his eyes like he's trying to see something far away. George starts to turn his head to see what's behind him, but Clay grabs his chin between his thumb and forefinger, keeping him from looking.

"Sapnap to 404. There's a man headed your way. Act natural. I promise you'll be safe. Out," Nick says in his earpiece. George's face becomes flushed, but he can't tell if it's because someone was coming, or if it was because he was so close to Clay.

Clay looks at his lips, then into his eyes. "You know, you're cute when you're flustered."

George giggles nervously. "Thanks, I guess?"

"Sapnap to 404. I'm on the guy's trail. He's dressed in all black and has a handgun with a suppressor on it. Do something to distract Dream so I can get close enough to take the guy down. I'm following your lead."

"Just kiss me already," George says in an attempt to distract Clay.

"Are you sure? I don't want to come across as too forward or desperate," Clay says, his voice shaking slightly.

George kisses his cheek. "Just do it."

Clay leans in to kiss him, but his eyes shoot to the same spot behind George again. George watches as his eyes flash with panic. He pins George to the ground and pulls out his gun, shooting twice. He then grabs George's hand and pulls him off the ground and behind a tree that was a few feet from their picnic.

"SAPNAP TO 404! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

"What's going on?" George asks Clay, hoping Nick was listening for Clay's response.

Clay holds his gun up to his chest breathing heavily. "There's some guys after me. If we can make a break to my car, I can get us somewhere safe." He starts to lean around the corner of the tree, but a bullet flies through the air, just barely missing his face.

George was in fight or flight mode. Here he was, behind the tree with a criminal, getting shot at by some unknown person. His hands were shaking uncontrollably as he pressed his body against the tree as much as possible. Another bullet hits the tree bark just to the side of George's arm, making him yelp in fear and surprise.

Clay grabs his hand and squeezes it. "We're going to be ok. I promise. We'll be fine."

George then hears three gunshots, followed by Nick saying, "Sapnap to 404. Target hit. I'm calling backup to take him in. Agent Badboyhalo is on his way to clear you from the area. Answer your phone when it rings."

George's phone then begins to buzz in his back pocket. He pulls it out and answers the unknown number calling him.

"George! I came to pick you up, but I heard gunshots. What's going on?!" Darryl says into the phone.

Clay looks around the side of the tree, and says, "I don't know where the dude went. We need to be careful."

"Um, hey, yeah uh, I'm not sure what just happened. You're here to pick me up?" George asks. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches Clay's face drop into a look of pain and regret after hearing George's side of the conversation.

"Yeah. Where should I meet you?" Darryl asks.

George looks around, hoping to find something that would allow him to tell Darryl his location. He knew that Darryl knew where he was, but he couldn't have Clay knowing that. Lucky for him, he spotted a tennis court and a street sign. "We're not too far away from the tennis court. Right off of 5th I believe." George then sees Darryl walk by the tennis court. "Hey I see you!" George says, waving his arm in the air.

Darryl looks up and waves back. "I'll be here. Say goodbye and we'll get out of here."

"Ok, bye," George says, hanging up the phone.

Clay sighs. "So much for a first date, huh?"

George smiles. "Hey, that wasn't your fault. I want you to know that this date was almost perfect."

"Yeah. Almost," Clay repeats.

George kisses his cheek and begins to walk away, yelling back. "I guess you'll have to top it on our second date!" Clay touches the cheek George kissed with his hand as he watches George walk away. He was smiling like a fool.

George walks over to Darryl, who was scanning the area. "What the hell happened?" George asks quietly as soon as he's close enough to be heard in a whisper.

Darryl shrugs. "I honestly don't know. Nick got him, though. He'll meet back up with us at dinner to talk about it." He looks a George, still shaking. "Hey, are you going to be alright?"

George nods. "Yeah. I think so. I just need to lay down for an hour. Or three."

"Well, you're welcome to lay in the van while I drive us back. There was an accident on the highway so we'll be in there for a while anyway." He wraps his arm around George. "I just want you to know, you did great out there. You were very brave to do this. I don't want you to think you were anything but fantastic, ok?"

George smiles thankfully. "That means a lot, Darryl." The two walk a few blocks to the van in silence. Darryl had to park it far enough away to avoid being seen by Dream. George didn't mind the walk at all, though. It gave him some quiet time to calm down. As crazy as things got, a part of him liked the rush it gave him. Had he been able to properly defend himself, he may have actually enjoyed the event. As the reached the van, Vincent unlocked the car doors and the two jumped in.

As soon as George gets buckled in, he asks, "Are missions always like this?"

"What do you mean?" Darryl asks.

"Do they always involve some sort of action?" George asks.

Darryl shrugs. "I mean, I don't know. Not all of them have shootouts like that, but a majority of them have a sense of danger to them. Like, while there may never be a shootout, it feels like one could happen any second."

George finds himself smiling. "Perfect."

———

Word Count- 2689

Published- July 11th


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

After taking a nap in the van, George wakes up to the sound of Darryl saying his name. He slowly opens his eyes and sees that they are parked in the underground parking structure.

"BadBoyHalo to Sapnap. What's your 20?" Darryl says into his earpiece. He nods in understanding as he listens to Nick talk, then says, "10-4. Bad out." He looks at George and Vincent. "He beat us here, so he's already begun interrogation."

"He's interrogating someone?" George asks.

Darryl nods. "There was an attempted assassination, George. Someone was after Dream and you could've been killed in the process. Nick is getting information out of him and, when he's done, the guy will be given to the police."

"That's really cool!" George says.

"You're welcome to come to watch if you want. It's nothing too exciting, though," Vincent says.

Darryl giggles. "Well, it can be exciting if the person being interrogated doesn't cooperate." George gives him a funny look. "Don't worry, you'll see."

As they walk by, Vincent tosses the keys to the girl at the kiosk. She gives George a thumbs-up as he walks by. "I see the noob cane back in one piece. That's a win!" George smiles at her, then follows the others inside.

The three take the left elevator to floor three. When the elevator door opened, George could hear someone yelling behind one of the doors. It just happened to be the door they were entering. On the inside, there were two people sitting at a control panel, taking notes. In front of them was a large glass window that allowed them to see into the room in front of them where Nick was trying to talk to a man. The man was handcuffed to the table in front of him and across the table from him were two chairs, one filled by Nick. The other was empty. Somewhere in the room was a microphone of some sort because George could perfectly hear everything being said on the inside.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" The man yells. "LET ME GO!"

Nick looks at him with a deadpanned expression. "Sir, we found a contract on you. I'd appreciate it if you could tell us more about who signed it."

"You can see who signed it. IT HAS A SIGNATURE ON IT!" The man looks incredibly angry as if he would kill Nick if he wasn't chained up.

Nick pulls the contract out of a Manila folder beside him. He slides it across the table. "Alright. As you can see, the signature is just a scribble. There's no way for us to track this to someone. Can you please tell me who hired you?"

The man spits at Nick. "Fuck you."

Nick rolls his eyes. "Sapnap to Skeppy. I'm not getting anywhere with this one. You busy?" After a moment of listening to Zak's response, Nick says, "Copy that." Nick then turns towards the window that must've been one-way glass. "Skeppy's flying in. Get ready."

Darryl begins giggling like a child. "This is when interrogations get good."

Nick comes into the room and smiles at George. "Hey! How are you feeling?"

"Tired, but excited still. Don't get me wrong, I was scared earlier, but it was kind of fun." George stops talking when the door to the room in front of him opens up.

Zak walks in, wearing a turquoise hoodie. His hands were shoved into the pockets. His hair was styled up. Zak's whole style made him look like a teenager, not a 20-something-year-old who was a genius. He slides into the chair in front of the man and takes a look at the paperwork in the Manila folder.

"Ok, you must be a072921956, correct?" Zak asks, slightly annoyed by the name the man had given. "I'm just calling you A. That name is ridiculous."

Faster sizes him up. "Hm. So you're the guy that poor Sapnap called in for help, huh? Pathetic that he needed a kid to come in to help him."

Zak laughs. "Dude, I'm literally older than him." He looks through the papers on the desk. "Wow, you're a high-class criminal, aren't you?"

"What makes you say that?" A asks.

"Well, most of the time, the people who sat where your ass is right now were quick to tell us what we wanted to know," Zak explains. "Trust me, you want to answer my questions. I promise."

"Fuck you." A says.

"Aww, sorry man, I don't swing that way," Zak says. "So, what's the story behind your name? Cause no mother would ever give birth to a child with that name."

"It's encrypted," A says.

Zak snorts. "Encrypted, huh? Why do you need to encrypt your name?"

"I don't know who you are, so why should I give you my real name?" A asks.

"Because we need some answers and it's easier if I can call you by a real name." Zak thinks for a moment. "You know what, I'm calling you Leslie for the time being. Ok, Leslie?"

A becomes visibly frustrated. "That's a girl's name!"

Skeppy gasps. "THAT'S WHY YOU ENCRYPTED YOUR NAME! YOU HAVE A 'GIRLS' NAME, DON'T YOU?!" Zak begins laughing.

"My name is NOT LESLIE!" A yells.

Zak holds his hands up. "Ok, man. Calm down. Answer my questions and I'll give you a manlier name. Deal?"

A rolls his eyes. "Whatever."

Zak giggles. "Ok. Why did you encrypt your name anyway?"

"I work for the dark web," A explains. "In fact, I invented it."

Zak, no longer able to keep his composure, bursts into a fit of laughter. "Dude! You're, like, younger than me! There's no way you invented it."

"Well, I did. So don't mess with me. You don't know who you're dealing with."

Zak shakes his head. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Do you even know what the dark web is?" A asks.

"Well, of course, I do! Do you know how, like, in twitter, where you can turn it to dark mode? That's the dark web!" Zak says.

A let's out a long sigh. "You're irritating me. Can the other guy come back in here?"

"Nope!" Zak says. "You were bad, so talking to me is your punishment. So I'm going to ask you, one more time, who hired you?"

"Your mom," A responds with a smirk.

Zak takes a breath. "Ok. You wanna play that game? That's fine." He turns to the one-way glass. "Hey, Faster? Have everyone in there vote on this session's song."

One of the men at the control panel, presumably Faster, smiles wickedly. "Alright. Which song are we doing?" His accent was very similar to Vincent's.

"Muffin time!" Bad begs. "PLEASE do muffin time!!!"

"That's good with everyone else?" Faster asks. Everyone around George nods.

"What's happening?" George whispers to Nick.

Nick smirks. "This is how we get most of our information. Just watch."

Over the loudspeakers, a song begins to play. The song was sung by Darryl, Vincent, and Zak. Despite the fun, pop sound the song had, its lyrics were extremely depressing. All three of the singers were begging for death, and Vincent even sounded like he wanted to die. George couldn't help but smile as he watched A's face grow more and more confused by the second.

"What the hell is this?" A asks.

Zak smiles. "It's a song my friends and I wrote! I haven't heard this one in a while!" He starts nodding his head to the beat as he hums along. "You let me know when you're ready to start talking."

A gives him a weird look. "We're just going to sit here and listen to this awful song?"

"Yep!" Zak says as he starts getting more into it, full-on singing the lyrics now.

A tries to cover his ears, but his handcuffs were keeping him from moving his hands high enough. "Dude, turn the song off."

"Are you going to tell us who hired you?" Zak asks.

"No, now turn it off!" A yells.

Zak looks towards them both. "You heard him! Turn it UP!" Faster chuckles as he turns the volume up in the room, making A look even madder than before.

"OFF! I said OFF!" He whines.

"Tell us your employer?" Zak asks.

"NEVER!" A snaps back.

"TURN IT UP!" Zak cheers. The song gets even louder.

"SO WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?" Zak yells, just barely being heard over the song.

"I'M NOT TELLING YOU SHIT!" A screams.

"LOUDA!" Zak screams. Not only was the music now at max volume, but Zak was screeching the lyrics along with it, adding a whole new layer of irritation. A begins groaning as he yanks at the chains around his wrists, trying to set himself free. After a minute of trying, the song ends.

"HA! IT'S OVER! TAKE THAT!" A yells victoriously.

The song then starts over, making the man's face drop into a deep depression. "IT'S ON REPEAT!" Zak yells over the song. "IT'S NOT STOPPING UNTIL YOU TALK!"

A bangs his head on the table repeatedly until finally crying out, "OK I'LL TALK! JUST PLEASE END MY SUFFERING."

Zak motions for Faster to cut the music. "Ok, Leslie. Who are you working for?"

The man sighs in defeat. "I honestly don't know. I didn't see his face. We texted and that was it."

"What do you know about him?" Zak asks.

"He wants Dream as much as you do, but not for the same reasons. You guys want justice, but he wants chaos," A explains. "Whoever he is, he'll get Dream's businesses when he dies."

"Do you know if he's hired anyone else to kill him?" Zak asks.

A nods. "I don't know who, but there is someone else after him. All I know is that he's really close to whoever is after him."

"Do you know why Dream is a Target?" Zak asks.

A rolls his eyes. "Isn't it obvious? Dream has killed 12 people, on all his own properties in the last two months. My employer wants him gone before he hurts anyone else."

George's stomach started to feel funny. He knew that Dream was a murderer, but 12 people in two months was way more deaths than he could've imagined. Dream really was a monster. He was just a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Zak stands up. "Ok, that's all. The police will be on their way to escort you out soon. So settle in. You may be here a while." He exits the room and walks into the control room where the others sat. "Alright. Let's start figuring out what happened."

The five walk back to their private conference room where Zak was working before he was called in to help. It looked like he was trying to get through some sort of firewall.

"Ok, here's what we know," Darryl starts. "The person after Dream is going after him for his business as well as to stop the murders. The employer also has another person close to Dream who is ready to kill him when he gets the chance." He looks at Nick. "We can't let him be killed yet. We still have so many questions for him."

Nick nods. "You're right. We're going to have to speed up our process to get to him before he dies." He looks at George. "Have you had any contact with him since the date?"

George shakes his head. "Not yet."

"Alright. Get dressed and get ready to go drinking again tonight," Vincent says.

George tenses up. "I don't think that's the best idea. Remember the last time I went drinking? I'm really ok if that doesn't happen again for a little bit."

"No, wait! I've got it!" Zak says. He jumps up and heads out of the room. "Meet me in the gadget lab in 15 minutes. I've got an idea." The four listen as they hear Zak stomp down the hallway and into the elevator.

"He seems excited," Darryl says.

"Yes, which probably means he's going to blow up the lab again," Vincent says.

Darryl gasps in excitement. "George!!! You get to see the gadget lab! Oh, you're going to love it." Darryl links arms with George. "I don't care what Zak says, we are leaving now so I can show you the room. It's amazing!" He drags George out of the room, Vincent and Nick following behind them.

When George saw the gadget room, he saw that Darryl was right. It really was amazing. Half of the lab was dedicated to building small machines and pieces of technology. The other half, where Zak was standing, was a science lab of some sort. Zak was busy stirring two substances together when the others had walked in.

"Hey, I said 15 minutes!" Zak yells. "Why are you here?"

"Darryl wanted to show George the lab," Nick explains.

"And now that we're here, you can start telling us about this crazy idea of yours," Vincent says, motioning to the cup Zak was stirring.

"I've been working on this for a little bit now. It's a dissolvable tablet that, when put into someone's drink, causes them to feel drunk. It's able to simulate being drunk without shutting off your brain, so you're able to hold a conversation while being loopy. Slip it into Clay's drink and George will be able to ask him personal questions. Dream won't be able to do anything but answer you." Zak puts a single drop of the liquid onto a piece of wax paper, where it forms into a very small tablet that George could barely see from where he was standing. "Alright, who wants to tests it?"

"I can test it if no one else will," George says.

Zak shakes his head. "It can't be you. I don't know how long it'll take to wear off and you don't need to feel intoxicated when you're in the field." Zak's eyes scan everyone, then fall on Vincent. "Vincent! Why don't you take one for the team?!"

Vincent glares at him. "There is no way I'm taking your drunk tablet."

Zak drops the tablet into a small cup of water. "Take the drunk tablet."

"I will not!"

"Get drunk."

"NO!"

"TAKE IT LIKE A TRUE FRENCH MAN!"

"OH MY GOD ENOUGH!" Nick yells, snatching the cup from Zak. He downs it and rubs the water droplets on his upper lip. He slams the cup down and shrugs. "Nothing's happening."

Zak turns to a piece of paper by the now empty cup. He begins to mumble to himself. "It should've worked! I did it right."

Nick hiccups as a sly smile starts to grow on his face. "Ok, no. It's working." Nick begins giggling as he slowly falls over onto Darryl. "Shit that's STRONG!"

"Language!" Darryl says, pushing Nick off of him and onto George.

Nick boops George's nose. "Hey, Georgie. I'm tired."

"How long does this last for?" George asks Zak as Nick runs his hands up and down George's face.

Zak looks at his papers once again. "It could be anywhere from three hours to eight hours."

"Seriously, Zak?!" Vincent asks. "George is going in to see Dream and now we have to deal with Nick."

"I can drive Nick home," George offers.

Vincent shakes his head. "He can't be left alone when he's drunk like this."

"I've seen him drunk before," George says. "He'll be fine."

"Guys! I'm a SPY!" Nick yells into his phone camera.

Vincent wrestles the phone out of his hands and quickly deletes the video. "This is why George. You've seen him drunk, but he could still control himself. He's plastered right now. And when he's plastered, he reminds us that he works for Forte every five seconds."

Nick squats on the floor and begins crawling around a desk, scanning his surroundings as he goes. He then begins singing the mission impossible theme as he reaches for some sort of device on the gadget table. Zak groans and walks over to the table, picking up the device before Nick can touch it.

"I vote Skeppy babysits Nick!" Darryl says raising his hand.

Vincent raises his hand. "I second that."

"What?! You can't leave me alone with him!" Skeppy shouts.

Vincent shrugs. "You did this, so now you can deal with the consequences."

Nick stands up and pats Skeppy's hair. "How do you get it to stick up like that?"

Skeppy glares at Vincent. "If you had just taken the drunk tablet, we wouldn't be dealing with this."

Vincent laughs as he leaves the room, only stopping at the doorway to say, "You mean you wouldn't be dealing with this."

"Oh, wait Vincent!" Darryl calls out. "We get that special dinner tonight!"

"Then let's go!" Vincent yells from the hallway.

Darryl puts his hands on George's shoulders as he pushes him towards the door. "You're going to love this!"

George looks back at Nick who is playing with a stapler, calling it a gun, while Zak pulls him towards the door for dinner. George smiles and responds, "Yeah, I think I will."

———

Word Count: 2853

Bonus points to anyone who knows the “a072921956” reference. 😉

Published: July 14th


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

From the 12th floor of the building, George could see a significant amount of the city. All of the cars looked small and the people looked smaller. He wished he could've been there at night to see all of the cars go by. Unfortunately, they all decided to take an early dinner so that George could go find Dream at the bar. 

George was having a peaceful moment until Nick pushed his face against the glass. "GUYS! WE'RE GONNA FALL!" 

Darryl pulls him away from the glass and forces him into a seat. "Stay here while I get you some food, ok?" 

Nick pouts. "Fine. I won't get up." He then begins violently shifting in his seat. "But ya can't stop me from wiggling!" Darryl groans as he walks away from the table to grab food. 

As Vincent walks by, he puts his hands on Nick to stop him from moving around. "Bro, calm down."

"Sorry, Frenchie. No can do!"

Vincent shoves him forward into the table. "What did I tell you about calling me 'Frenchie'?"

"Sowy Vinny," Nick says sadly. 

Vincent takes his hand off of Nick and turns to Skeppy. "once we finish dinner, Darryl, George, and I are heading out. There's no way we can take Nick."

Skeppy's jaw drops. "No fair! How am I supposed to get work done when he's like this? I have a van to fix, remember?!"

"We can't really work with him either, Zak!" Vincent yells. 

Nick stands up and rubs his forefinger down Vincent's face. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. You're tooooooo loooouuuud."

"I will bite you if you don't stop touching me right now," Vincent snarls. Nick removes his finger and sits back down, avoiding eye contact with Vincent. "Zak, we seriously can't take him into the van."

"Just put his seatbelt on!" Zak suggests. "He doesn't understand how to use one yet. It'll keep him busy for at least an hour. If you want the van fixed, you need to take him with you."

Vincent lets out a long sigh. "Fine. Whatever. We will take him." 

Darryl walks up with a giant waiter's tray with five plates on it. Zak grabs a plate and bolts for the door, yelling, "No take backs!" on his way out.

George takes a plate from the tray and admires the beauty of it. It was a beautifully prepared meal that reminded him of something one of those gourmet cooks would make. It was shrimp and mussels sitting in a bed of Spanish rice and veggies. The yellow rice perfectly highlighted the colors of the shrimp as well as the peas and carrots. Just by smelling it, he could tell there was an array of seasonings sprinkled on top of it. George wasn't much of a cook himself, managing to nearly burn his apartment down just by making a grilled cheese once. The dish intimidated him. He couldn't quite figure out where to start. 

Darryl notices George staring at his dish like it was ready to bite him. "Are you ok, George?"

George's eyes snap up to Darryl across the table from him. "Uh, yeah. I've just never eaten anything this fancy before." He laughs nervously. "Sorry, that probably sounded so stupid."

Darryl laughs, but not at George. With him. "I didn't know what to do with myself the first time we got a meal like this, don't worry. Just dig in! We need to head to the car in 20 minutes, so if I were you, I'd get to eating." 

George follows Darryl's advice and decides to start with a bite of the rice and veggies. The flavors exploded in his mouth, sending a pleasurable shiver down his spine. He had never tasted anything like it. Bite after bite, he found himself enjoying it more and more until finally, his plate was empty. Had he not been around near-strangers, he would've licked his plate clean. "What was that?!"

Darryl giggles. "That was Paella, my friend. Dave's personal chef makes a special meal for the code winners every night and it's usually something fancy like this." 

Beside him, he hears Nick crunching on something, which was odd because there was nothing crunchy on the plate. He looks over and finds that Nick was attempting to eat the shell of the mussel. "This doesn't taste very good," He says with a grossed-out expression on his face.

Vincent rubs his face. "This is going to be a long mission."

After finishing their dinner, the four make their way to the van they had used earlier in the day. George was still a little shaken up about nearly getting shot, but at this point, he was just going to go along with whatever he was told to do. Honestly, George figured that someone from Forte would kill him if he quit because he would, "know too much," or whatever. Vincent pops open the back door and pulls Nick inside, strapping him to the seat farthest away from any computers or monitors. Zak wasn't kidding when he said Nick didn't know how to use a seatbelt. As soon as the buckle locked into place, he looked down at it and froze. He didn't say a word.

"Is he ok?" George asks.

"Yeah, he's fine," Vincent responds. "He does this whenever he has a seatbelt on when he's drunk. He sits there and tries to figure out how to use it. Hopefully, he doesn't figure it out during the mission. If we're lucky, he'll just stay frozen. He won't even talk until he is unbuckled."

George couldn't help but laugh. He had known Nick for a long time and he had never seen him so out of it before. They had gotten drunk before, but the more George thought about it, the more he realized that Nick was always in control of himself to some extent. This was why. He knew perfectly well that if he got too drunk, he'd tell the entire world who he really was. George found it fascinating. He never thought about things like that before. While Darryl drove, Vincent ran George through what he needed to do. He'd go to the bar, spike the drink, take Dream to the hotel he owned, and get information out of him. Not so hard right? Boy oh boy was George wrong. 

The night started off just fine. George walked in and quickly spotted Clay. It was almost like Clay was waiting for him. They shared a sweet smile and met at the bar where Clay ordered them both a drink. When he wasn't looking, George dropped the small tablet into his drink. It fizzed for a second, then returned to normal as if nothing happened. Clay took a drink and George watched his big green eyes dilate was the drunk tablet made its way into his system. 

"Woah," Clay mumbles. He looks towards the bartender. "Did you put an extra shot in this?" The bartender shakes his head, then returns to the people he was serving before. Clay held his head in his hands and moaned. "I need to get out of here."

George reaches over and grabs Clay's keys from his pocket. "I can drive you to the hotel if you'd like."

"Why would I want to go to the hotel?" Clay asks. 

George seductively bites his lip and eyes Clay up and down. "I think you know why."

"Dang 404! That was good!" George hears Vincent cheer in his earpiece. 

Clay blushes as he lets George lead him out of the bar and into his car. The previous night, George wasn't able to pay much attention to the car because he was too focused on the man next to him. Tonight, he was finally able to take it all in. It was a luxurious white Porche with black leather seats. George wasn't usually a huge fan of leather seats, but these were very comfortable. George felt weird being behind the wheel of the car. He was so nervous that he was going to get a scratch on it or something. The whole way there, Clay tried making conversation with him, but eventually stopped when he felt himself losing control of what he was saying. The last thing he said was, "If I keep talking, I'm going to say something I regret," and followed it with a shallow chuckle. 

Clay couldn't walk on his own. This wouldn't have been a big deal had George been the same size as him. Unfortunately, Clay was not only taller but was more muscular than George was. And George wasn't in the best shape either. He was lean and had a fast metabolism, but he didn't have much when it came to muscles. He practically carried Clay all the way to the elevator and put him down when the doors closed. On their way up, Clay kept looking at George like he wanted to say something. When the elevator doors opened back up, George wrapped Clay's arm around his shoulders and staggered all the way back to the presidential suite they stayed in before. It was a good thing that the suite was Clay's. Had he had to check in normally, he'd be in hell. 

George gently laid Clay down on the couch and left to the bedroom to grab a blanket. As he lays it over Clay, Clay decides to speak. "You look gorgeous right now." 

"Oh yeah?" George asks. 

Clay nods. "Yeah. Your eyes are pretty. I love your eyes."

George shrugs. "They're just brown. They're nothing special."

"You're wrong, George," Clay whispers. "They are beautiful. They are big and kind and expressive. I can tell what you're thinking just by looking at them. And they are brown. They are the most beautiful shade of brown I've ever seen. So hush. You're cute. Deal with it."

"You're drunk," George says, excusing everything Clay had just said. 

"A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts," Clay sings to himself as he pulls the blanket up to his neck. 

"Well, while I'm here, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions," George says, pulling a chair up to sit near the couch. "What do you know about that man that shot at us earlier?"

Clay hums as he thinks. "Not a lot. I know someone wants to kill me."

"Why would someone want to kill you?"

Clay laughs. "I don't know! I was framed for murders and the guy that did the murders has me on his hit list. I think there's this agency after me too."

"Agency?" George asks. 

"Yeah! Forte! There are these guys that keep trying to kill me because they think I'm guilty."

Then shit hit the fan.

"Sapnap to 404. I'm out of the seatbelt!" George then hears Nick giggle while Vincent and Darryl yell in the background. He then hears Nick breathe heavily as he calls out, "HEHEHE I'M FASTER THAN YOU GUYS!" George bites the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, but it only gets worse. "404! What room are you in?! I wanna visit!" 

In the background, George can faintly hear Vincent yell, "GIVE US THE COMMUNICATORS, NICK!" The line then goes silent. 

"Are you ok?" Clay asks George. "You're turning red."

George nods. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry to hear about the people that are after you. It'd be a shame if they got to you before we could go on another date." 

Clay grins widely. "You want to go on a date with me?!"

"Why wouldn't I?" George asks. 

"Because you got shot at," CLay points out. 

George shrugs. "It was kind of fun in a weird way, I guess."

Clay gently closes his eyes. "Great. Now come kiss me goodnight. I'm going to sleep." George walks over and kisses Clay's forehead. "You missed," Clay mumbles, looking at him with big, emerald eyes. "Try again." George blushes as he kisses Clay on the lips this time. He feels CLay smile against him as he runs a hand through his hair. 

"404, I'm hiding," Nick whispers into the earpiece. "Don't tell them!"

George pulls away from Clay as he tries to keep his composure. "I'll text you tomorrow, ok?"

Clay rolls over on the couch to face the back cushions. "Ok. Night George!"

George smiles and quietly leaves, closing the door behind him. Right outside of the door, Vincent and Darryl were both waiting for him.

"We lost Nick," Darryl mumbles. "We need help."

George laughs as he heads back to the elevator. "You guys make this job impossible." He presses a finger to his earpiece. "Hey, Nick! Where are you?"

Nick giggles. "Hiding."

Darryl and Vincent both shuffle into the elevator just as George hits the button to the bottom floor. "Tell me where you are so I can come to hide with you."

"NOPE!" Nick yells. "You gotta find me!"

George gets off in the lobby and looks around for where Nick may have gone. "Can we play a game?" George asks.

"Of course!" Nick cheers. 

George clears his throat. "Marco."

"POLLO!" Nick screams at the top of his lungs. From the lobby, the guys could hear him perfectly. And, based off of the terrified bellhop's face, they figured he was behind the bellhop's desk. 

George leans over the desk and sees Nick holding his knees to his chest. In his left hand was Darryl and Vincent's earpieces. "Found you," George whispers, startling Nick. 

He jumps up and yells, "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" He then attempts to run away but ends up tripping over his own feet and lands face down on the marble floor. Vincent and George both lift Nick up while Darryl snatches the earpieces out of his hands.

"Alright, let's go before we cause too much of a scene," Darryl says. 

Vincent looks around and sees that they had gained the attention of everyone on the first floor. "Too late. Let's get out of here." They quickly drag Nick back to the van and shove him into his seat. Vincent puts his seatbelt on and Nick resumes his frozen state. Vincent huffs. "I'm going to kill Zak when I see him."

———  
Word Count: 2360 

Published: July 17th


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

The next few days were relatively hard for George. The team was hard at work trying to figure out who would want to kill Dream as well as what their motives would be. But while Vincent, Darryl, and Zak worked on that, Nick was busy trying to teach George how to defend himself in the gym area. "Alright, now try again, but don't forget the technique I taught you." Nick holds a punching dummy in place as George preps himself to punch it. He throws a swing, then recoils in pain, shaking his fist. "Remember what I told you about hitting hard?"

George groans. "Hit smarter, not harder. I know, but this is a dummy. I cant punch him in the nose and break it. It hurts me more than I hurt it!" George wipes the sweat from his forehead as he sits down on a bench. Even in a tank top, he was hot. He wasn't exactly the type to work out normally, so these sessions kicked his butt.

Nick takes a seat next to him and hands him his water bottle. "Don't get down on yourself. You're doing great, George!"

George looks down at his knuckles which had a tint of purple to them. "I don't feel great."

Nick looks down at George's hands, then stands up and heads over to the corner of the gym where there was a fridge and a cabinet full of things like protein bars and Gatorade. He reaches into the freezer and returns to George with two ice packs. Nick then pulls a roll of gauze and surgical tape. He gently wraps both of George's hands, making sure he secures the small ice packs to his bruising knuckles. "If it makes you feel any better, you're doing better than I did when I first learned how to fight."

George rolls his eyes. "I find that hard to believe. You're stronger than me. I'm sure you did just fine."

"George, throwing a punch isn't just about how hard you hit," Nick explains. "I mean, if you hit hard, that's a plus, but to me, it's all about where you punch. If you hit someone's throat or jaw just right, you'll stun them just enough to do whatever you need to do, whether that's throwing more punches or using the time to get away." Before George could say anything, his phone buzzes in his pocket. He pulls it out and sees that he had a new text from Clay. Even though he knew how dangerous it was to talk to him, he always enjoyed their conversations. He got excited when he read the text. 

_Clay_   
**Hey! I was wondering if you wanted to come to the bar tonight. My buddies and I are going to play some poker and someone had to drop out and I'd love to see you again!**

"I was invited to play poker!" George brags, showing Nick the phone. 

Nick smiles as presses his ear to his earpiece. "Sapnap to all. 404 has a date tonight." 

"A6D here. Skeppy, is the van fixed yet?" 

Skeppy nervously laughs. "Not quite." In the background, they hear a loud popping noise, followed by Skeppy mumbling, "Shit." 

"Bad to Skeppy. LANGUAGE!" 

Skeppy sighs. "Sorry, Bad. And before you ask, no, the van will not be ready for tonight."

"HOW IS IT NOT READY?!" Vincent yells. 

"Well, you asked me to add a new feature and the wiring is complicated!" Skeppy defends. "If you want the van fixed properly, then don't rush me."

Vincent groans. "Fine. But that addition better be perfect!" 

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Skeppy out." 

"What's the new addition?" Darryl asks. 

"It's just a surprise. I'll meet you guys in the tech room to talk about George's date. A6D out."

"See you soon! Badboyhalo out!" 

"Badboyhalo?" George asks. "I thought he was just 'Bad'?"

Nick laughs. "Yeah, that's his full codename. It's just easier to say 'Bad' when you're talking to him. Oh! Zak finished making your badge. I think he left it in the tech room. All you have to do is sign it." Nick stands up. "Let's get moving!"

Nick and George make their way to the room, making casual conversation as they went. Once they made it to the room, Darryl and Vincent were both hard at work trying to figure out something. Vincent typed as Darryl looked over his shoulder, occasionally stopping to take notes. 

When Darryl notices George and Nick, he walks over to them and shows them his notes. "I think I know what happened to the undercover team." Nick takes the notes out of Darryl's hands and begins to read them over as Darryl explains them. "I did some digging and I found that one of Dream's victims worked. He was agent Mumbo. Apparently, Mumbo was helping the undercover team at the time of his death. I would not be surprised if Dream got rid of all of them." 

George started to feel uncomfortable the more he listened. They kept talking about some mysterious "undercover team," but they weren't saying any names. Darryl started going on and on about his theories that sounded like facts by the time he was done talking. Every word he spoke made sense. If Dream knew Mumbo was an agent that worked for the people trying to hunt him down, what would stop him from ending Mumbo's life as well as the other agents' lives? If he found George worked for Forte, would he be doomed to the same fate?

"George?" Darryl snaps him out of his trance. "Are you ok?"

George shrugs. "I'm just a little freaked out. That's all."

Darryl rubs George's arms. "You have nothing to worry about, George. We won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise." He walks over to one of the tables and picks up a badge. He hands it to George as he says, "You're one of us and it is our job to protect you."

George takes the badge and inspects it. His was formatted slightly different than Nick's was. But Nick's looked old, so George figured that the style difference was just due to the company updating their format. On this badge, the word "Forte" had periods in between each letter. Under each letter was the word that the letter stood for. 

**F.- Flordia**  
**O.- Organization of**  
**R.- Research**  
**T.- Technology and**  
**E.- Espionage**

George never stopped to think that "Forte" may have been an acronym. He had just kind of accepted the name for what it was. On the side of his badge was a picture that Skeppy had taken of him the day before and under that was his string of ID numbers. At the very bottom of the badge was his codename in big bolded letters. He ran his thumb across it, admiring the way that the black text shone in the light. It was simplistic and beautiful all at the same time. Darryl hands him a pen and points to an empty line on the badge. Knowing exactly what he had to do, George wrote his signature as nicely as he could. He didn't have amazing handwriting, so he made sure to keep the signature as clear and possible. 

"You need to keep that on you at all times," Darryl tells him. "It's everyone's way of identifying you here at the company. Never let anyone else touch it."

"Of course," George says, putting the badge in his back pocket.

"Alright, let's come up with a plan for tonight," Vincent decides. "What are we going to try to learn about during this date?"

George pulls his phone out to reread the text that Clay had sent him, remembering that Dream mentioned his friends. "He said that his friends are going to be there to play poker with us. I can always focus on getting in their good graces." 

Nick nods. "That's a good idea, George! I like it. Go get dressed and we will make our way over there!" 

All of the nerves George was feeling during the car ride were washed away the second he stepped foot into the bar. His eyes quickly found Clay, who was waving him over to a door in the back of the bar. George squeezed his way past multiple people, nearly spilling some drinks on his way, which earned a laugh from Clay. As soon as he was within arm's length of Clay, he was pulled into a warm hug. 

"I'm so glad you're here!" Clay says, holding George's head against his chest. "My friends have been dying to meet you!" 

George pulls away from Clay and smiles. "I'm glad I'm here too! I hope you've got a good poker face because I'm pretty good at reading people."

Clay smiles smugly. "What if I told you that we aren't actually playing poker?!" Clay drags his hand and drags him into the back room. There was a round table with a large pile of chips in the middle, not yet divided into even stacks. Four guys sat around the table, all casually chatting until George walked in. "Guys, this is George!" Clay says happily. "George, this is Jake, Dylan, Wilbur, and George."

"You stole my name!" George jokes, pointing at the other George.

The other George laughs. "Did not!"

George gasps. "You stole my accent, too?!" 

Jake groans. "This is ridiculous. We call him Geo. Just call him that, ok?"

George nods at Geo, trying his best not to laugh anymore. He takes a seat next to Dylan who looked a bit young to be there. Clay takes the seat beside him and begins passing out the chips. Geo and George chat while Dylan types away on his phone. While they waited for Clay to finish with the chips, he could feel eyes digging into him. He quickly glances to his left and sees Wilbur staring daggers at him. He wanted to question him, but Clay hands everyone a stack of poker chips before he got the chance. Wilbur's expression instantly changes as if a switch was flipped. 

"Are you going to tell me what we're playing?" George asks. 

"I'd like to know too," Dylan says, raising his hand. He had on the sort of fingerless gloves that motorcyclists wore, but he seemed so young. "Every time I ask what we're doing, you only giggle like idiots."

Jake tosses a cardboard box onto the table. In big, colorful letters was the title: Twister

Dylan looks up at everyone with a deadpanned expression. "You're joking?"

Geo snickers. "Nope. Not this time."

Dylan runs a hand through his dark hair, only made darker by the dim lights in the room. "You guys are motherfuckers, you know that?"

"You know the rules!" Jake says. "The winner of last week's game gets to pick the next week's game!"

Dylan slams his fist on the table. "That is so unfair! You guys literally played a drinking game last week! There is no way I was winning!"

Wilbur snickers. "That's why we brought a game more child friendly!"

Dylan sinks back into his seat in total shock. George leans over to Clay and whispers, "What the hell is going on?"

Clay begins wheezing. "We get together once a week and play a game. We gamble and get competitive and it's a lot of fun. Well, Wilbur won two weeks ago and, last week, he chose a drinking game. Dylan had to sit out because he's underage so he whined the whole time. Jake won last week and decided to pick a game that the child could play."

Geo helps Wilbur move the table while Jake spreads the twister mat out on the ground. Dylan, who had yet to move from his seat, crosses his arms. "I hate you all so much."

"If you'd get better at games, you'd be able to pick!" Geo teases, ripping Dylan's chair out from under him. Dylan falls to the ground with a loud thud and groans. 

"How are we gambling on this?" George asks. "It's Twister. You can't exactly bet on anything."

Jake steps forward. "I'll explain that one. We will do this bracket-style. Each person will face off against someone else while everyone bets on who will win. If the person they bet on wins, they have to share the pot with the winner of the face-off as well as anyone else who also beg for that person. He grabs a piece of paper from the table and writes everyone's names on it before tearing the names into strips of paper. He balls them all up and tossed them into an empty cup and pulls out two names at random. "Alright, first up is Clay and Wilbur. Everyone place your bets." 

"I'll put $20 on Clay!" Geo says, tossing $20 worth of chips onto the table.

"I'll put $20 on Clay too," George says. "Why not?" 

"$150 on Wilbur," Dylan says. Everyone gives him a look like he was crazy. It was only the first round and he was bet big extremely high. He notices everyone's looks and shrugs. "What? Wilbur bottomed Dream for, what, five months? If he got his legs around his fat ass, then he's limber as hell." 

George bit his lip to keep from laughing and glanced over to Clay and Wilbur. Clay was staring at Dylan, shocked, with a bright red face. But Wilbur was looking at George. And he looked proud. "L-let's just play," Clay stutters. 

Clay and Wilbur both stand across the mat from each other in their socks, ready for Jake to begin calling out the instructions. 

"Right hand, blue." 

"Left foot, green." 

The round was uneventful. Clay ended up being the first to fall, which earned Dylan $95 and a high five from Wilbur. He didn't make his money back, but he found a new way to enjoy the game. All he had to do was make people feel uncomfortable. 

Next up as Geo and Jake. George followed Clay's lead and bet $35 on Geo. Dylan and Wilbur both bet a total of $60 on Jake. 

Wilbur spun the wheel. "Left hand, yellow. Leg foot blue." This round went on for a while, neither of the men getting into painful enough positions to fall. Eventually, Geo found himself hovering over Jake to reach a red spot with his right hand. 

Dylan snickered. "Jeez! I didn't know you were a bottom, Jake!" 

Geo began laughing as Jake shot Dylan a look. George ended up laughing so hard that he fell on top of Jake. 

"Oh, kinky," Dylan says with a wink. 

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" Jake asks, annoyed. 

Dylan rolls his eyes as he draws another two names. George and Clay. They stand opposite each other while Dylan called out the commands. Somehow, George found himself tangled up in Clay's arms, just inches away from his face. 

"Oh no! What a shame! The spinner is broken!" Dylan says sarcastically. He pops the plastic spinner out of its spot in the cardboard. "Guess you two have to hold that position." 

"I've got legs of steal!" Clay brags. "I can stay here all day." 

"Oh my god could you two just fuck already?" Dylan calls out. "The tension is getting to me and Wilbur looks all hit and bothered." 

George falls, pulling Clay down with him. The two laugh as George notices how close their faces were. He was so close, he could lean forward and kiss him right now. So. Close. 

Wilbur pulls Clay up, leaving George on the ground. He looked pissed at George and he wasn't even trying to hide it this time. "Come on. Let's keep playing." 

Everyone had gone multiple times except for Dylan who was having too much fun torturing everyone to be bothered to play. George and Wilbur even faced off at one point, but Wilbur purposely fell when Dylan started talking about an intimate exchange Wilbur and Clay had a few months back. He just didn't want to try and focus while being heckled. The chips had been passed around so much that everyone basically had what they started with. It was down to the final play of the night: Dylan versus Geo. 

"I'm betting on Geo," Clay says, tossing some chips onto the table. "He's got the longer legs." 

"I second that!" Wilbur chimes, putting the same amount of chips down. 

Dylan pulls George off to the side. "Go all in on me," he pleads. "If you put everything in, so will everyone else. We can split the money!" 

George shrugs. "Sure." He didn't really have much to lose. He turned back to everyone else and tossed all of his chips onto the table. "I'm all in on Dylan." Not wanting to be shown up, everyone else bets all of their money too, all on Geo. George was the only one who bet on Dylan. 

Dylan took his spot across from Geo as Geo began to stretch. "Dude, you're literally wearing leather pants," he points out. "I don't know how you think you're going to win this." Dylan doesn't respond. He only shrugs. 

George spins the spinner and calls out, "Left foot, blue. Right hand, green." He continues calling out the numbers while watching in awe as Dylan carefully contorts his body to touch every color called. He was silent the whole time and made sure to stare deep into Geo's eyes in an attempt to psyche him out. And it worked. When George called out, "left hand, yellow," Geo fell to the ground. 

Dylan carefully untwists himself as he laughs. "You guys are so stupid. Not only did you pick a child's game, but you also challenged me of all people to play against you. I literally played this last week. You guys forgot that you're looking at an ex-gymnast." He walks over to the table and splits the pit in half with George and smiles. "Sorry if I came off like too much of an asshole. I am an asshole, but not as much as you'd think. Also, sorry about the crude comments. You seem chill." He tosses the chips to Clay. "Alright. I'm ready to cash out now."

\------

In this chapter, the guys were supposed to play Poker, but thanks to some friends of mine, it was changed to Twister. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! 

Published- July 20th at waaaay too early in the morning :')


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

The rest of the night was a lot of fun for George. It was the first time that the whole week that he had forgotten about everything going on and was able to settle down. Had it not been for Wilbur, it would've been perfect. He wouldn't stop staring with his judgmental eyes. Wilbur was definitely trying to kill George with his eyes. After a few hours, everyone left except for Clay and George. Had he not known better, George would've thought that they all left to give them some privacy.

"Thank you for inviting me tonight," George says with a smile. "It was so much fun."

"I'm glad you had fun because you have to go to the next game night. You and Dylan won, so you two need to get together to pick a game." Clay sits at the table and takes a sip of his ice water. "Just, please, whatever you do, do not let him pick an athletic game."

George sits across the table from him. "Was Dylan serious when he said he was a gymnast?"

Clay nods. "His parents were really weird about what extracurriculars he could do. He couldn't do anything like football or basketball, so he decided he'd do gymnastics. Of course, that was, like, five years ago. He still works out and stretches to maintain his flexibility and strength, but he doesn't take classes or anything anymore."

"Hey, Dream!" Dylan calls out while walking into the room. "Have you seen my keys?" As soon as he finished his sentence, his eyes grew wide and he quickly looked away from Clay.

"Nope," Clay responds, looking at George out of the corner of his eye.

Dylan looks up. "I'll walk home. Goodnight." He quickly leaves the room as if he just killed someone.

"Are you two ok?" George asks, noticing that Dylan called him "Dream". "That was weird."

Clay clears his throat. "Yeah, it's fine."

"Sapnap to 404. Ask him why Dylan called him that."

"What's with the name he called you? 'Dream'?" George asks.

Clay smiles. "We met playing video games online. 'Dream' was part of my user name so he got used to calling me that."

"Damn. I thought we were on to something there. I didn't think anyone called him Dream except us." Nick says disappointedly.

Dylan comes back into the room. "Ok, I'm not walking home. I do really need my keys." They all look around the room and George points to the ground where the keys were sitting. Dylan nods a silent thank you and scoops them up.

"You aren't staying?" Clay asks.

Dylan glances out the door, then leans in and whispers, "Wilbur is drinking again."

Clay closes his eyes and shakes his head. "I guess I won't be home until later tonight. Don't forget to lock the doors again, please?"

Dylan rolls his eyes. "I won't! Jeez, you sound like my mom." He leaves the room, shouting his goodbyes to Jake and Geo as he left the bar.

"Do you have a ride or should I call you one?" Clay asks.

"I can get a ride, but I'm not ready to leave yet," George says sadly.

Clay huffs. "Look, you staying here probably isn't the best idea. Wilbur gets weird whenever I bring someone new around."

"Why's that?"

Clay hesitates for a moment, then says, "He's my ex. We were together a couple of months, but things didn't work out. Ever since then, he's been super jealous whenever I date someone new and ends up drinking heavily. But I still care about him a lot. He's a great friend. I don't want to lose that." He stands up from his chair. "I'm sorry I had to cut this night early."

George pulls out his phone and sends a text to Nick, asking him to pick him up. He knew that Nick would be waiting for him already, but Clay would've been suspicious if he didn't text anyone. "Well, I had a lot of fun tonight, Clay. I would've never thought that Twister could be so much fun!" He hugs him. "Thank you!"

Clay hugs him back and holds him tightly. "Thank you for coming! You made this a lot more fun for me. He pulls back slightly but stays holding George's waist, George's arms still around his neck. "Can I kiss you?"

"WE GOT 'EM!" Nick yells through his earpiece, earning a slight giggle out of George. He was thankfully able to pass it off as a reaction to Clay's question. He nods and slightly tilts his head to the side just in time for Clay's lips to collide with his own. The kiss didn't last more than two seconds, but George already knew that it was the best kiss he'd had in a long time.

George blushes deeply. "I guess I should get going. My friend will be picking me up soon."

Clay lets go of George. "Alright! I'll text you tomorrow!"

George leaves the room, smiling. "Perfect!"

He quickly leaves the bar, avoiding looking at Wilbur as he went. He didn't want to make him madder than he already was. Just as the door closes behind him, the van drives up and the door swings open for George to hop in. During the ride back to Forte's building, they discussed why Dylan called Clay "Dream". It was the mission codename that their boss, Techo, had given them. They only called him "Dream" because he was the target of the mission, so why would anyone else call him that? It deeply bothered Nick. On the plus side, they found Wilbur, who could have insider knowledge on Dream from when they were together. Darryl reported Wilbur to Techno who decided to send a different team to watch him. Once the made it to the building, they parked the van and said their goodbye's, deciding that they should get home.

George slides into the passenger seat of NIck's car. As soon as the door closes, Nick says, "You know, you are quite the actor around Dream. You really know how to play the role, don't you?"

"The role of what?" George asks.

"Honey trap! There's only ever been one guy that was able to seduce people as easily as you've seduced Dream, but I never got to meet him. He was good at separating the mission from his feelings just like you."

George laughs nervously. "Nick? I'm not acting when I'm around Clay."

"Clay?" Nick echoes. "Dude, call him Dream. And what do you mean you aren't acting?"

George sinks as far into his seat as he possibly could. "I mean I'm not trying to do anything. I just act natural."

Nick groans. "Please don't tell me you like him, George."

"I like him, Nick. He's so sweet! I don't think he's a criminal," George admits.

"George...." Nick says softly, "The evidence is there. He's killed people. There's no denying it. All of the victims were killed on his properties and he was the only person present at the time of the murders. There's no way he just happened to be in the same place as the 12 murders."

"But what if there is a way?!" George asks. "What if he was framed?"

Nick closes his eyes for a second as he waits for the red light in front of him to turn green. "George, I know this is all new to you, but you can't let yourself fall for this guy. He's dangerous and he's going to prison as soon as we have all of the evidence we need. If we can get a straight confession out of him while you're with him, he's getting locked up. You can't let yourself get attached, ok?"

George leans against the window. "I'll try, Nick. I promise."

"Good. I don't want my best friend to be his next victim." When they reach the apartment, George goes straight to his room and lays in his bed, his mind racing. Nick was right. All of the evidence pointed to him being the killer. It just hurt George so much to think that Clay was such a bad person. He seemed so perfect in every way, but that's the thing about some bad guys. Some of them are amazing actors.

"Ok, here it is!!!" Skeppy cheers, motioning towards a black van. "I fixed it!"

George was exhausted from staying up, overthinking the whole Clay thing the night before, but he still did his best to seem excited. On the outside, it was identical to the other vans in the parking lot, but George could see glowing blue lights through the dark, tinted windows. Nick opens the back doors, revealing four separate computer setups. Two of them were filled with personalized items while two of them remained empty. The front seat was set up similarly. Each guy had their own, individualized set-up.

Nick's was the easiest to pick out, mostly because of the small minifridge under the computers filled with his melon milk that he was obsessed with. Up by the computers was a stuffed panda that George had bought him when they visited the zoo. He had gotten so excited when he read online that there were pandas at the Tampa zoo, but his dreams were crushed when he saw that they were red pandas. And they were sleeping. Nick was bummed for the rest of the day, so when they stopped at the gift shop on their way out, George had bought him the panda. Not long after he bought it, it went missing. At least now,George knows where it went to. Beside it was a picture of him and Nick when they had first moved in together.

Across the van from Nick's spot was a station covered with the blue LED lights that George had seen from outside of the van. Multiple notebooks were sitting beside an empty can of spaghetti-o's that was holding pens and pencils. The keyboard and mouse looked extremely nice and the station had more monitors out of any of the other spots. Hung over the seat was a blue hoodie that matched the lights. The two front seats weren't as decorated as the two backs ones, but both still had computers. On the right side, there was a small red bucket turned on its side with a clownfish plush sticking out of it. On the passenger's side, there was one of those slow-rise stress toys in the shape of a baguette as well as sticky notes posted all over the dashboard written in another language, probably french. There was also a Russian dictionary sitting beside the toy as well as a large binder with color coated tabs. In between the front seats and the back seats, there was a large cooler and well as a box that was overflowing with snacks. George could see why they liked this van so much. They had seriously made it their second home.

Nick threw himself into his seat. "I am SO HAPPY to have this baby back!"

Zak rolls his eyes as he sits in the seat across from him. "It's just a van. It's not that exciting."

"Says the guy that doesn't have to stay in the van during missions!" Nick teases. "Oh, George! You can pick either of the two empty stations. Zak can help you customize it more soon. You can literally have anything in here!"

George sits in the seat right next to Nick's. "I'll take this one. This one is perfect."

In his earpiece, George hears a semi-familiar voice speak. "This is Technoblade to all. I regret to inform you that we have lost our undercover team. Please pray for their families during this tough time. Stay safe out there agents."

Darryl lowers his head. "I knew they were missing, but I didn't realize they were actually gone."

"Do you still think Dream is behind this?" Nick asks.

Darryl nods. "I really do."

Zak angrily steps out of the car. "I'm going back up."

"Zak..." Darryl gently says. "I know that this is bothering you-"

"You're damn right it's bothering me!" Zak yells.

"Language!" Darryl yells back.

Zak groans. "I am so over this guy! First, he threatens me, then kills Mumbo, and now there's a whole team just gone!" He runs his hands through his hair. "I can't handle this anymore. Let's just take him into custody already."

"Not until we can prove he killed those victims!" Vincent explains. "We have enough evidence to investigate, but not enough to convict him. You know this."

Zak crosses his arms. "Whatever. I'm going inside. Let me know if you guys are going out today."

"Zak, please stay," Darryl begs. "How about we all take the van for a spin? We can try out that thing that you added, whatever that thing may be."

"It's not ready yet," Zak says. "Besides, it's not safe for me to leave."

Darryl wraps an arm around him. "Zak, come on! We're a team! We won't let anything happen to you. We promise. Just please, let's take a drive like old times."

Zak lets out a long sigh. "Fine. But it's just a drive. After that, we come straight back here. No detours."

Darryl smiles. "I promise."

The group all files into their spots as Darryl puts the keys in the ignition. The engine roars to life and Darryl backs out of their parking spot and out of the parking garage. They all chat as Darryl calmly drives towards the beach. George was fascinated by Zak's reaction to the drive. He must've locked himself in that apartment for a long time because he looked at the ocean as if he was seeing it for the first time. He was almost completely pressed up against the tinted window. While Darryl and Vincent chatted, Nick picks up the basket of snacks and hands it to George. He opens it up and was shocked at the large variety of snacks inside of it. There were chips, candy bars, dried fruit, and everything in between. But what got George was a small container of chocolate-covered raisins.

He happily pulls it out as Nick smiles proudly. "I made sure Zak added some of those to the basket."

George pops one of the raisins into his mouth and smiles. "Thank you, Nick."

As Darryl pulls up to a red light, Zak's happy expression suddenly drops. "Um, guys? I think we are being followed."

Nick and George look out the back window and only see normal-looking cars. Nothing out of the ordinary. "Are you sure?" Nick asks.

Right behind the van was a small black car with darkened windows. The passenger side window rolls down and a hand sticks out of it, holding a gun.

"Yeah," Zak says, logging into his computer and preparing himself for what was to come. "Positive."

———

Word Count: 2481

Published: July 22nd


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

"DARRYL! DRIVE!" Vincent yells.

"But the light is red!" Darryl says.

Vincent pops open the glove box and pulls out a handgun. "FUCKING DRIVE DARRYL!"

"I'M NOT GOING TO BREAK THE LAW!" Darryl yells. The man in the car behind them fires two bullets at the van. Had it not been for the bulletproof windows, one of them would've hit Zak, who was freaking out in his seat.

Nick was the only one that wasn't a nervous wreck. "Sapnap to Techno. My team is being attacked. We are headed Northbound on 12th street and we can't swing back around to the offices. Send backup! Over and out!" He pulls out his gun from under his desk and cocks it. "George, just stay low and stay calm. We'll get out of this."

"DARRYL DRIVE!" Vincent screams as the light turns green. Darryl steps on the gas and the car moves forward, but not fast enough to get away from the car behind them. "What are you doing?! DRIVE. FASTER!" Vincent demands.

"I'M NOT BREAKING THE LAW, VINCENT!"

"GUYS! USE CODENAMES! THEY'RE IN OUR COMPUTERS!" Zak yells.

"Get them out of there, Skeppy," Nick says, unbuckling himself. "Bad, keep the car steady. I'm going to try and get them off of our trail." Nick swings the back door open, making papers fly all over the back seat. George ducks down and covers his head as he hears multiple gunshots go off, followed by a loud popping noise. "I got the car, but he's not alone!"

"How many are there?" Vincent asks.

Nick swallows hard. "Three cars and two motorcycles. All black." Nick closes the door was a barrage of bullets hit the door.

"SHIT!" Vincent yells. "If Bad would drive FASTER, we'd be able to get away!" He leans over to face Zak in the back seat. "Skeppy, is the button ready?"

Zak quickly types away on his computer as strings of code appear on the screen, desperate to kick the unwanted visitors out of the Forte system. "I already told you, it's not ready!"

"I'm pressing the button!" Vincent announces.

Zak tightly clutches Vincent's arm. "You press that button and the engine may blow!"

"I'll take my chances!" Vincent slams his fist onto a red button in between the front two seats. The car stalls for a few moments and, with one good yank, he pulls the steering wheel to his side of the car and away from Darryl. The peddles by Darryl's feet get sucked back into the car as new ones appear at Vincent's feet. On his left side, the middle consul opens up to reveal a gear shift. Vincent cheers. "FUCK YES!"

"LANGUAGE!" Darryl yells. "How did you do that?"

"Skeppy gave me an emergency button in case this ever happened." The car starts back up as he wraps his hands around the steering wheel. "I'm going to get us out of here."

"What do I do?" Darryl asks.

Vincent hands him his gun. "You're a decent shot. Get to work!" One of the cars behind them rams the back of the van, lurching everyone forward. If George wasn't wearing a seatbelt, he would've easily hurt himself on the computers around him. Vincent shifts the van into a new gear, sending them flying forward faster than before.

"Sapnap!" Darryl yells. "The motorcycles!" Nick looks out his window and sees a man riding a motorcycle. He was holding a gun similar to Nick's. He shoots at the window, but it doesn't shatter. Nick rolls down the window and shoots the guy while he was distracted by trying to avoid the cars around him. He flips off his bike and onto the side of the street. Nick then leaned out of the van window and aimed at someone that George couldn't see from where he was sitting.

"404, I need help!" Zak yells as he grabs fistfuls of his hair. George unbuckles and carefully jumps to the other side of the car to help him. "I can't focus right now. I need to encrypt the van's data before they get into the Forte servers."

"I don't know how to do that!" George says, starting to panic like Zak was. Then, the text appears on the screen:

I got this. Help is coming.

Zak stares at the screen in horror. "Shit. Someone else is in our servers!" He begins typing, but there was someone else in the program typing twice as fast as he was. He struggled to keep up, but he still tried his best to get whoever was in there out. Text appeared on the screen once again:

Stop fighting me. I'm trying to help you agent Skeppy.

Zak types "Who are you?" into a line of text. The person responds with:

Just a couple of friends.

"Who is that?!" Nick asks, looking out of the window. Behind the cars after them was a blue motorcycle being driven by someone with a helmet that covered their face. They expertly weaved in between the cars and pulled a handgun out of their holster hanging from one of their legs. He takes out the other motorcyclist, then drives up beside the van.

"Special agent 64 here," a voice comes in through everyone's earpieces. The voice had some sort of effect on it to keep them from telling who the voice could belong to. "Get agent 404 out of here. My friend is there to assist you, so please don't shoot the kid on the motorcycle." Vincent looks out the window as the guy in the blue motorcycle salutes him. Now that he was closer to the van, George saw that he was on the smaller, skinnier side. When the voice called him a kid, it wasn't a lie. There was no way he was older than 17. "I see where you are. Make a right at the next light."

The kid on the motorcycle nods and slows down, giving Vincent time to make it over to the next lane. He then speeds around the side of the van and straight into oncoming traffic. He swings the bike around to a stop and holds out one of his hands to stop the coming cars. Vincent speeds up and turns around the corner with a loud squealing noise. As they drive away from the kid on the motorcycle, George watched him get shot. He recoiled, but the bullet bounced right off of him. He then cocks his gun and begins firing at whoever it was that shot him.

"AGENT 27! ENOUGH! DON'T WASTE AMMO!" The voice yells through the earpieces. The kid slams his arms down as if he was having a short-lived temper tantrum, then speeds towards the van, popping a wheelie as he went.

A new disguised voice says, "Show off," through the earpieces.

The kid shrugs from his bike as a new voice says, "Surprised?" George figured that the kid was the one who said it. The voice was distorted, but not enough to hide that he was younger than the other voices.

"A6D, merge onto the highway!" The first voice says. Vincent does what he's told and cuts off multiple cars to merge onto the highway. "Take exit 29 to Union Place and I can get you back to headquarters." '

"Copy that," Vincent says, constantly checking his mirrors to see if the cars were still following him. As he expected, they were. The motorcyclist wasn't far behind them and was working on trying to shoot out the car's tires. He manages to get one of the cars, but the second car zooms forward, then slams on its breaks right in front of the motorcyclist. The kid goes flying back into oncoming traffic, causing a huge string of accidents to happen.

"SHIT!" One of the distorted voices yell. "WE NEED TO GET HIM OUT OF THERE!"

"404 is our mission right now," another voice says.

"FUCK 404! THAT'S MY ROOMMATE!"

"It is safe to use your names. I have located the security breach and fixed it," the first voice explains.

"Who are you?" Darryl asks.

"Just a friend," the voice responds. "We have to let you go to help our team member. Good luck with that last car. Oh, and George? Tell Dream I said hi, will ya?"

George nods. "Yeah, sure."

"Alright. Special team, over and out."

Nick looks out the back window at the car still coming for them. "Zak, can you get into their car system? If you can drive them off the road, we will be able to make it back to the offices."

Zak types at something on his computer then laughs. "I'm in. Check it out." George looks out the back window as Zak begins controlling the car. He starts with the windshield wipers, then makes his way through the car, messing with its many features. He then ends it with shutting the car off altogether. Zak giggles. "Too easy!"

Vincent takes the exit, then follows the GPS back to the offices. They pull up to the parking garage in silence. George was still trying to process what had happened. They were chased, they were helped by some random team, and a kid on a motorcycle may or may not be dead. That last one bothered George. Why would a teenager be allowed to do this sort of work? It made no sense to him. As everyone else headed inside, George decided to stay back to talk to Nick.

"So, the guy on the motorcycle who helped us was a teenager, right?" He asks.

Nick tenses up a little. "Yeah, yeah he was."

"Who was he?"

Nick shrugs. "Hard to say. There are a few teenagers that work here, but not a lot."

George's jaw drops. "Please tell me you're joking!"

Nick shakes his head. "I don't like it either, but it's true. I've met a couple of them. I just hope that whoever was on the bike is ok. I mean, I'm sure he is. I took multiple gunshots and they didn't pierce through whatever armor he was wearing, but I'm sure he has a had case of whiplash."

"I hope he's ok too," George says. Nick finishes up in the van and walks with George back inside. George's phone dings as he gets another text from Clay.

Clay

George! We should meet up tomorrow!

George smiles as he responds, asking Clay where they should meet.

Clay

I'll send you the address tomorrow :)

Nick rolls his eyes as he sees George smile at his phone. "You are setting yourself up to fail, George. You're just a pawn in his game. You know that right?"

George's smile drops. "I don't think he's bad, Nick. We talked about this."

Nick shrugs. "Whatever man. Just don't get all pissy when he gets arrested."

"So, I know that you guys think Dream killed a bunch of people, but how do you know it was him?"

"Easy," Nick says. "Dream was the only person present during every single murder. They all happened at either his hotel, bar, or restaurant. His DNA was always found somewhere around the crime scene. It just all adds up. It would also explain why he is always trying to run away. If he had nothing to hide, why wouldn't he just talk to us? There's just no way he's innocent."

"If you have all of this evidence, why hasn't he been arrested yet?"

Nick groans. "The police suck and say that they need more evidence. Unless he have him killing someone on video or a confession straight from his mouth, we can't do anything."

"GUYS!" Darryl yells through his earpiece. "You will NOT BELIEVE what I just learned about the undercover team. Get your muffins to the conference room, I've got something to tell you."

When Nick and George enter the room, Vincent and Zak were already listening to Darryl talk. "He was a MINOR!" he yells. Darryl then notices Nick and George by the door. "Come sit down, Technoblade just released some information about the undercover team." The two sit down as they listen to Darryl. "He confirmed that one of the murdered agents was a minor. A child! Dream killed a child in cold blood!"

"Wait, what?" Nick asks.

"Nick, Dream murdered a 16-year-old who was working for the company. Apparently, the kid was working here without his parents knowing. He stopped going to his boarding school and was getting one of his teammates to forge fake report cards. Their tech guy acted as his teacher and let him live with him so that he didn't have to go back to his school dorms." Darryl falls into his seat. "I just can't believe Dream would kill a child just because they were an agent."

"Do you know who the kid was?" Nick asks.

Darryl shakes his head. "Technoblade won't tell and it'd take too long to comb through our records to figure out who it may be."

Nick looks at George. "Not so innocent now, is he?"

George looks down. There was no way that Clay, his Clay, could've hurt a kid like that. There was just no way.

———

Word Count: 2191

Sorry for the shorter chapter! The next one will be longer, I promise. Hope you enjoyed!!! <3

Published: July 23


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

As he went on more dates with Clay, George noticed that they two were feeling much more comfortable with each other. Nick kept saying how close they were to a straight confession and that it was a matter of days before they'd get what they needed. The biggest piece of information they got from their latest date was about Clay's business partner who went by the name "Illumina".

They had been friends for many years and, when Clay wanted to start his own businesses, Illumina was the one to help fund his endeavors. The partnership started great. Clay would give Illumina 10% of his profits. But the relationship quickly turned sour when Illumina started demanding more and more money. He tried to sue Clay, but because they had written contracts stating that Clay would only give him 10% of his income, he lost. Illumina hasn't talked to him since the legal battle, which only ended six months ago. Nick was sure to write down every word that came out of Dream's mouth, just in case they needed to contact Illumina about Dream's crimes.

While everyone else was busy trying to find a way to prove that Clay was guilty, George found himself falling for him. He was playing a wicked game, but it was hard for him not to. He was already being forced to go out with someone he slept with and found attractive, so it was always going to be a challenge for George. And even though Nick didn't approve, he was still kind whenever he tried to convince George to get over his crush. Nick didn't want to see George get broken down.

"You ready for tonight's date?" Nick asks as George adjusts himself in the mirror.

He runs a hand through his brown hair and smiles. "Yeah, but it's not a date. He just invited me to go bowling with everyone."

Nick watches as George continues to mess with his hair in the mirror. "Dude, you just said you were ready."

"Well, I was, but then I saw how awful my hair looked." George narrows his eyes as he attempts to style his hair.

Nick grabs George's wrists and pulls them away from his hair. "George, you look just fine, ok? There's no need to do all of this."

"I know I know. I'm sorry." Nick let's go of his wrists, and he immediately goes back to messing with his hair.

Nick rolls his eyes. "Ok, that's enough." He grabs George by his shirt collar and pulls him out of the bathroom and into the conference room where everyone else was waiting. George was greeted by the usual faces of his team, but two younger guys were talking with them. One had a boot on his left leg and was propped up with crutches and his wavy blond hair hung over his baby blue eyes. He was loud and was telling some extreme story from his latest mission. Beside him, his buddy stood listening to his story, ready to catch him if he ever fell over in his crutches. His hair was much darker than the blond's and he was constantly flipping his hair off to the side and out of his eyes. While Zak and Vincent both seemed annoyed that the two were in there, Darryl was listening to the blond's story, laughing at every joke.

George catches Darryl's eyes and he smiles, waving him over. "Hey, George! I've got some kids for you to meet!" George walks over and introduces the two. "This is Tommy and Toby. They wanted to stop by and meet you."

Toby holds out his hand. "Agent 404! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come to say hi! I'm agent Tubbo." He tilts his head over to the blond. "That's agent Innit."

"Hey there, bitch!" Tommy says.

Toby cringes. "He kind of does that. Don't mind him."

"What happened to you?" George asks Tommy, glancing at his boot.

Tommy shrugs. "I got into a pretty nasty car accident not too long ago on the highway. I'm lucky that I only hurt my leg."

"The doctors checked your head, right?" Zak asks. "Cause I think the crash disconnected something in your head."

Tommy glares at him. "Fuck off Skeppy."

Toby grabs Tommy's shoulders. "We need to get going if we're going to make it to our meeting on time!"

Tommy's eyes widened. "Shit! You're right. Let's get out of here."

Toby follows Tommy, stopping when he reaches the door. "Good luck with Dream, 404. I'm sure you guys will get him!"

George waves as they leave. "How old are they?"

"16," Nick responds. "Tubbo will be 17 soon, though."

"It baffles me that the agency hires kids," George says. "I mean, that's just crazy!"

Nick shrugs. "Teenagers can get into places that adults can't. Like, I can't tell you how many times the agency has busted crimes happening in high schools. I hate it but I get why Techno employs teens."

"Hey, Zak!" Darryl calls cheerfully. "Are you coming with us tonight?"

Zak glares at him. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I wanted to know if you were going with us tonight. George is going out with Dream and his friends again and I wanted to know if you were joining us." He looks at Zak expectantly, but Zak's expression doesn't change.

"If you seriously think I'm ever leaving this building again, you are dead wrong."

Darryl frowns and looks down. "You can't hide here forever."

"And I won't!" Zak claims. "Once we arrest Dream, I'll move out. I promise."

George's phone goes off. "Clay just texted me. We need to go."

Everyone leaves except for Darryl, who stayed back to share a final thought with Zak. "You know we'd never let anyone hurt you, right?" Zak only nods in response. Darryl then makes his way in the direction of the stairs to meet everyone else in the van.

In between missions, George was able to find the time to decorate his station in the van. He lined his computer with red lights that cast a red-ish glow onto his face. The red combined with Zak's blue lights made the back seat look awesome. Under his desk, he had a minifridge that was exactly like Nick's, but he only had water in it for the moment. Sitting on his desk was a stuffed cat as well as a picture of him holding his cat which always made him smile. On the other side of the desk was a pair of thick, white sunglasses that he had seen last time he went grocery shopping with Nick. He made the joke that he'd be able to use them when he was on missions, which then encouraged Nick to buy them for him. The station itself was coming together nicely, so it was too bad that he wouldn't be able to use it much. George did his best to enjoy the relaxing ride on the way to the bowling alley with his set-up, but he was too excited for the night. It would be the first time he'd seen Clay's friends since they'd met. He opted out of game nights to help his team back at the offices, so he was ready to have some fun.

As always, Darryl drove up to the curb, a few blocks from the bowling alley. "Just text us when you are done. We will send you the pick-up location."

"Thanks, dad!" George chimes. He pauses and groans, realizing what he'd just said. He turns around and sees Nick and Vincent both covering their mouths to keep from laughing.

Darryl, with a serious tone, asked, "Yes, son?" which only made the other two erupt into full-on laughter. George giggles and hops out of the van, closing the door behind him.

George hits a button on his earpiece. "Alright, guys! The earpiece is on and-"

"Finnster to team, do you copy?" George freezes. "Finnster here, where are you?"

"Um, hello?" George asks.

"Spifey?" Finnster asks.

"No, this is agent 404."

Finnster sighs on the other side of the earpiece. "Fuck me." With a loud pop, the line goes silent.

"Did you guys hear that?" George asks.

"I'm already scanning the voice," Zak speaks up. "I'll let you know if I find anything. Don't worry, George, you are perfectly safe. Agent's signals get mixed up from time to time." George nods and begins his walk to the bowling alley.

Clay was waiting for him by the front door. He was leaning on the wall, talking to Jake. As soon as he saw George, his face lit up. "George! Hey!"

Clay pulls George into a hug, muffling his voice when he responds with, "Hey!"

"Dude, back up, you're going to suffocate him," Jake teases.

Clay rolls his eyes. "Whatever, Jacob."

Jacob dramatically shutters. "I hate it when you say my name."

"So, Dylan is allowed to call you Jacob, but I can't?"

"Two things," Jake responds. "One, I just hate the way you say it. And two, Dylan does whatever he wants. There is no stopping him." He opens the doors. "Please keep PDA to a minimum, alright? We don't need Wilbur freaking out again."

Clay scoffs. "We didn't even do anything in front of him."

"Exactly! If you two so much as touch hands, he will go nuts!"

Clay takes George's hand in his. "Well, Wilbur is going to have to deal with it for now." Jake glances at George, shrugs, then ushers them in.

Clay leads George to their bowling lane, all the way at the end of the alley. Geo was already up and throwing his ball down the lane while Wilbur cheered him on. Dylan sat angrily at the table, typing on his phone. As soon as he sees George, Clay, and Jake, he forces a tight-lipped smile, then goes right back to his pouting. He had some sort of brace around his right wrist.

"You ok, Dylan?" George asks.

Dylan sighs. "I fucked up my wrist when I went biking and it still hasn't healed."

Jake snickers. "You're the only brooding teenager I know that still rides his bike." Dylan shoots him a look but doesn't respond. "He's right-handed, so he can't bowl."

"Why don't you just bowl with your left hand?" George suggests.

Dylan laughs. "I kick ass in bowling. I'd rather sit out than let these fuckers beat me."

Geo rolls his second ball, getting a spare. He and Wilbur cheer together, but Wilbur stops as soon as he sees George. He was not happy to see him back. "I thought that tonight was guy's night?" Wilbur asks Geo.

"George is a guy," Geo laughs. "No rules are being broken here, dude."

Wilbur rolls his eyes. "Whatever." He grabs a ball from the rack and prepares himself to go.

"We are only on our first bowl, so you don't have to worry about points or anything," Jake says as he puts George's name into the system. Before he knew it, it was his turn to bowl. He picks up a 14-pound ball and rolls it, hitting the first strike in the game. Everyone cheers for him except Dylan, who was too busy on his phone, and Wilbur, who was too busy trying to kill George with his perfected death stare.

The night progressed perfectly. Geo had ordered two pizzas for the table and everyone seemed to be having a good time for the most part. Even Wilbur seemed to be fine as long as he wasn't looking at George. George's luck with his bowl quickly ran out, but he didn't care. He was having fun with everyone.

After a couple of frames, George excuses himself to go to the restroom. Just as he finishes up, Wilbur walks in. "We need to talk." He seemed to be quite aggressive. George had learned more from Nick about fighting, but Wilbur was taller than him and was angry. George was sure that he wouldn't win this fight. "You need to back off of Clay."

Through his earpiece, George hears Nick snicker. "George, stand up for yourself. Don't let him get in the way."

Taking Nick's advice, George says, "I'm a grown adult. I can do whatever I want."

"Well, I know you can do whatever you want because you did Clay within an hour of meeting him." Wilbur scoffs. "You know, you're quite pathetic. I don't know what he sees in you."

"The same could be said for you!" George says. "At least I don't threaten anyone that gets close to him."

Wilbur slams George against the wall. "You don't know a thing about me or Clay. You are setting yourself up for heartbreak because it's never going to happen. He's still in love with me. I know it, he knows it, and it's time you know it."

"What the fuck?" Geo asks, standing by the door. Neither of the guys had noticed him come in. "Wilbur, I think it's time you leave." Wilbur lets go of George and leaves without another word. "I'm sorry you have to deal with that, George. I promise he's really cool. He's just still a little broken up about Clay."

George nods. "I get it. I think I'd be pretty broken if Clay left me in the middle of a serious relationship."

Geo scoffs. "They were never serious. They were just fuck buddies." Geo washes his hands in the sink, making sure to get all of the pizza grease off of his hands. "If you're good, we should head back out there."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." George follows Geo out but nearly runs into him when he abruptly stops walking. Wilbur had left, probably after he threatened George. At their table, there was some sort of mini standoff going. Jake had his hands wrapped around one of Clay's arms while Dylan stood in front of them with an arm pressed up against another man that George had only seen pictures of before. It was Illumina. He wore a fancy suit that showed off that he was made out of money and his hair was slicked back. Despite the look of Clay and his friends' faces, Illumina seemed calm. It was as if they were all in two different worlds at that moment. Geo rushes towards them and pulls Dylan's arm off of the man, apologizing to him as he did so. When George got close enough to every one to hear the conversation, he found that Clay was being overly aggressive.

"I don't owe you shit and you know it!" Clay snarls. He starts to step forward, but Jake pulls him back.

Illumina shakes his head. "Clay, please don't do this. I just need to collect my ten percent."

"He doesn't have a fucking debt with you!" Dylan growls. "Get out of here before we call the cops for harassment!"

Illumina's eyes trail over to George. "Ah, you must be Clay's current lover. I'm Illumina, Clay's partner."

He holds out his hand and George hesitantly takes it. "I'm sorry, but I thought you two were no longer partners?"

Illumina shrugs. "It's a bit messy at the moment." He drops George's hand and looks at clay. "I want my money. We both know I'll get it immediately. If I were you, I'd hand it over before people get hurt."

Clay's nose twitches with anger as he watches Illumina leave. As soon as he was out of the building, Jake releases him. "Dude, you can't just attempt to attack him in public, Clay."

"Shut up, Jake," Clay mumbles.

"No, I'm not going to shut up. I need you to understand that you need to stay calm around him. He is trying to get your money. Attacking him will only give him another reason for you to pay him." Jake slides into the seat next to Dylan, who was typing furiously on his phone.

Dylan stops for a second and looks at Clay. "We need to go."

Clay nods. He goes to George and lightly kisses him. "Sorry I have to cut this short, but I told Dylan I'd help him with something." Dylan grabs his arm and begins running towards the exit, dragging him along behind. "I'LL CALL YOU!" Clay yells before vanishing out of the exit door.

———

Word Count: 2721

Published: July 26


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕 
> 
> https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

"I don't know what to tell you guys," Zak says over the earpieces as the group drives back to the offices. "I'm not seeing any records of an agent named 'Finn'."

"What about the name Spifey?" Nick asks.

"Nope, can't find anything about that agent either, which means one of two things. A, the two aren't a part of Forte or B, they are but Techno is hiding them from the databases. I've got to go. Skeppy out."

"Do you think it's possible that Finn isn't a Forte member?" Vincent asks.

Nick shakes his head. "He's got to be with us. We have private servers for our earpieces. There's no way he isn't with us."

"Well, I'll get with Zak tonight and we will try to figure out what's going on," Vincent says. "It can't be that hard to figure it out."

"I'll stay late tonight with you guys too," Nick decides. "I wanna get some stuff done in the gym."

"Well, drop me off at home then," George playfully demands. "I'm not staying up late to listen to you guys go on and on about crazy theories."

Darryl laughs. "That's fine! We can catch you up in the morning. Nick, can you send me the address?" Nick nods and types something on his computer and not even a minute later, Darryl makes a u-turn to get George to his shared apartment.

George waves goodbye, then walks inside, collapsing onto the couch. He lets out a happy sigh as he pulls a soft blue blanket around him. He makes his way into the kitchen to make something to eat, but nothing sounded good. In fact, he wasn't even hungry after the time he spent out with Clay and his friends. He shrugs and heads back to the couch. He lays down and turns on the tv, eventually falling asleep.

George is shortly awoken by knocks at his front door. He checks his phone and sees that the time is 12:27. He groans as he stands up, yelling, "Nick! I was sleeping! Why did you lock yourself out again?" But when he opens the door, he doesn't see Nick.

It's Clay.

"I-I'm sorry, George. I didn't know where to go and I needed to talk to someone," he stutters.

"How did you find where I live?" George asks.

Clay winces. "Well, I knew you lived in this area because you mentioned it during a date not that long ago. I also know what you drive because I've walked you to your car before. All of the parking spots have apartment numbers on them, so all I had to do was find where your car was parked." He searches George for any sort of reaction, getting nothing out of him. "That's not creepy, is it?"

George slowly shakes his head, accepting the situation due to how tired he was. "Come in." Clay hurries inside as George closes the door behind him. "What's going on?"

"Bad people are after me, George. Really bad people." He sits on the couch and his knee begins bouncing. "George, I...I don't know how to tell you this. Things have been going so good between us and I'm scared that when I tell you everything, I'm going to lose you."

George sits beside him and drapes half of the blanket around Clay's shoulders. He places a hand on Clay's leg. "Clay, look at me. There is nothing you can say that would scare me away."

Clay begins to tear up. "There's an agency after me. I think they are trying to kill me. They're called Forte. This one team of four dudes, in particular, is after me and I don't exactly know why." He takes a deep breath. "I've been accused of some pretty bad crimes, but I don't know why they'd want me dead."

"How do you know they want to kill you?" George asks.

"I don't," Clay says. "That's the scary part. All I know is four guys with guns rush me whenever they get the opportunity. Lately, they've been quiet which scares me even more."

George grabs one of Clay's hands and laces their fingers together. "What do they think you did that's so bad?" Just at that second, George's phone goes off.

Nick

Hey, I'm staying the night at the offices. No parties while I'm gone, ok?"

George

All good. See you tomorrow

"They think I killed a bunch of people," Clay says, avoiding George's gaze.

"Did you?" George asks, bring his attention from his phone back to Clay. Clay doesn't respond. He just continues staring at a spot on the ground. George pulls him into a hug, feeling slightly terrified that he didn't get a straight answer from Clay. "I'm here for you, ok? I've got your back."

Clay nods against his shoulder. "Thank you." He pulls away, letting George wipe the tears from his eyes. Clay looks into George's eyes and smiles. "Can I stay here tonight? I don't want to be alone."

George nods. "Of course. I've got you."

"Thank you so much." Clay whispers, leaning in closer to George. "How did I get so lucky?"

"Lucky?" George echos.

Clay nods. "Yeah. How did I get so lucky to have you in my life?"

George's heart begins going crazy. For the first time this whole process, he was beginning to doubt that Clay was as innocent as he seemed. But if he hesitated, he wouldn't be doing his job. He had to get this right if he wanted a confession soon. He forces a smile. "I'm the lucky one here."

Clay leans into George, kissing him softly. "I think I love you."

"Me too," George whispers in his ear.

Clay blushes. "Well, I should probably take the couch tonight."

"I don't mind if you want to sleep with me tonight," George says. "Like, I'm not in the mood for anything to happen between us or anything, but I wouldn't mind some cuddles."

Clay quietly laughs. "That's perfect. Absolutely perfect." George gets up off of the couch and pulls Clay into his bedroom. George undresses and gets into sweatpants while Clay only takes off his shirt, not having anything his size to wear to bed. George laid on his bed and got flashbacks to the first time they'd officially met in the hotel room. Clay was just as attractive as he was back then, but George wasn't sure how he felt now. He was scared, but he was more scared of something bad happening to Clay than something bad happening to himself.

Clay crawls under the covers and wraps his arms around George, pulling him against his body. "Goodnight, Georgie."

"Goodnight, Clay," George says back. Before long, he feels Clay's breaths become weaker as he falls asleep, but George wasn't ready to go to bed. If Clay was a murderer, he didn't want to be the next victim. But Clay said he loved him, so maybe he'd spare George. After a while of overthinking everything, George finally drifts off to sleep.

George stirs awake early in the morning, no longer feeling the heat of Clay's chest against his back. His bedroom door was open and he could hear the sound of the TV playing from the living room. He grabs a sweatshirt and pulls it over his head, then enters the living room where Clay was watching some old cartoon show that George didn't recognize. "Good morning."

Clay smiles. "Good morning George! How'd you sleep?"

"Just fine," George lies. "Like a baby." He sits beside Clay and leans his head on him.

"What do you want to do for breakfast?" Clay asks.

"I don't know, but whatever we do, I'm buying," George states.

Clay laughs. "Nope. I'm not letting you."

"Clay, you've paid for every single date we've had as well as some gifts. The least I can do is buy you breakfast once." He pulls out his phone. "I know this local diner that has amazing pancakes. Go grab my wallet and I'll order us some."

"Fine. But I'm only letting you pay because I'm too tired to argue." Clay stands up. "Where's your wallet?"

"The back pocket of my jeans from last night." George begins typing on his phone to place an online order. He selects everything he thought they'd need to have a good breakfast. Things like pancakes, bacon, and eggs were listed on his order, followed by two orders of coffee. He was then ready to put in his card information. "Hey, Clay! Did you find my wallet?" He calls out. No response. George gets up and walks towards the bedroom. "Clay, did you find it?" His blood runs cold when he sees what Clay was holding. Clay was holding a leathery wallet looking thing, but it wasn't a wallet. It was George's badge.

"You're one of them." Clay mumbles. "All this time, you were one of them." He looks up at George with tear stains running down his face. "This whole FUCKING TIME you were with Forte, weren't you?!"

"Clay, please, I-I can explain!"

Clay throws his badge down. "Explain what? That you were hired to fuck with my feelings? To convince me that I was someone worth loving? George, I trusted you. I LOVED you. And THIS is the repayment I get?!" He walks towards George, making him back up into the wall. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fucking kill you right here, right now."

"GEORGE, I'M HOME!" Nick yells, walking into the bedroom. "I brought donuts!" He drops the box when he sees Clay pinning George against the wall. He yanks him away and punches him in the face.

"YOU!" Clay hisses. "I should've FUCKING KNOWN you were behind this."

"George, get to the car," Nick says calmly, hand against his pistol on his leg.

Clay shakes his head. "Not only do you work for Forte, but you also work with the same guys that want me dead."

"We don't want to kill you, we want to talk," Nick states. "Cooperate, and you will have a reduced sentence in jail."

"Finnster to Spifey. Agent in distress. Send back-up!" The Finn guy yells over the earpieces.

Nick pulls his gun out and points it to Clay. "Leave now, or I will be calling people to come to pick you up and remove you. And trust me, you don't want them to take you away."

Clay looks at George and breathes heavily. "Fuck you, George. Fuck. You." Then, he leaves without another word.

"Finn is on our earpieces again," George says.

"I heard. We need to get out of here before Dream calls his backup." Nick grabs George and pulls him out the door and straight into his car. As he starts it, he yells George, "You need to tell me everything. How the fuck did he find where we lived?"

On the way to the offices, George explained everything that happened that night to everyone through the earpieces. From how Clay found him to how he didn't claim his innocence when talking about the murders. George was shaking. He had never seen someone get so angry before. Clay looked at him like George killed his whole family. It left George shaken up and scared. By the time they reached the offices, Darryl was already waiting for them. He pulled George into a hug, saying how sorry he was and how he knew how scared George felt.

"Sapnap to Skeppy. Please rerun Finn's voice. We heard it again."

"Skeppy here. On it."

Darryl brings them into the building and takes them to Zak's apartment where two bundles of sheets and blankets sat on the table.

"What are these for?" George asks.

"You need to live here now," Darryl says. "Dream knows where you both live and he may come back. You need to stay here where it's safe."

"I still can't believe he found our place," Nick mumbles. "This is such bullshit!"

"Welcome to my world!" Zak says, coming out of his bedroom. "Go down that hall and pick a bedroom."

The day went by quickly. The team spent their whole day trying to figure out where Dream was and who Finn was. Finn mentioned an agent in distress, but they had no idea who he was referring to, which only made them more scared as a team. George zones out during the whole day, unable to think straight. He couldn't get Clay's look of betrayal out of his head. It shattered his heart because, in some weird way, George did love him.

George couldn't sleep that night either. He tossed and turned for hours, but to no avail. When he heard voices coming from somewhere in the new apartment, he quickly got up and snuck to where the noise was coming from. He was so scared that someone was after him that he couldn't take it anymore. He followed the voices and ended up in the living room where Zak and Nick were both getting geared up.

"What are you guys doing?" George asks. "It's like three in the morning."

"George, go back to bed. Please go back to bed," Nick begs.

"Not until you tell me what's going on," George demands.

Zak sighs. "You can't come with us, so don't even think about it, but we finally caught Clay on camera. He killed someone, George. He killed another agent."

———

Word Count: 2232

Published: July 26th


	12. Chapter 12

I have been peer pressured into making a discord for my stories! If you've enjoyed reading them and would like to join a community of other readers, click the link below. Thank you to @StrawberryClouds17 on Wattpad for telling me to make it. Ily honeyyyy! 💕

https://discord.gg/A4D4ZHQ

Ok y'all can read now! 💕💕💕💕

George waited for Nick and Zak to leave before he quickly got dressed. He needed to go to Clay. He needed to see for his own eyes if he's guilty or not. He didn't need to follow his team to the location because it had already made it to the news channels. George was able to quickly find that the murder took place at his own hotel. George snagged Nick's keys from the dining room table and began the drive. As he drove, he could hear Finn talking to someone new.

"Finn to Spifey. Come in!"

"Spifey here. What's going on?"

"Forte finally got Dream."

Spifey sighs. "Shit, ok. I'm on my way."

George wanted to speak up and say something to them, but the lump in his throat stopped him. His mouth opened, but no words came out. Before he could say anything, he made it to the hotel. The whole front lobby area was taped off, lines with Police officers, and what George assumed was other agents. In the middle of them all, Nick was wrestling with Dream, pressing him up against a car to arrest him.

"Stop fighting!" Nick grumbles. "You're only going to make this worse."

"I'm innocent!" Dream yells.

"We caught you on camera, Dream. It's over," Nick says.

George flashes his badge to the police officers to let him enter the caution tape and he walks over to Darryl, who was standing right beside their van. "So, he did it?" George asks.

Darryl nods. "I'm sorry, George. I know you wanted to believe he was innocent."

"Can I see the video?" George asks. "Nick said that you guys caught him on camera.

Darryl takes a deep breath and pulls a tablet out of the front seat. He taps a few things, then hands it over to George. In the video, Dream was on top of someone significantly smaller than him. He had his hands around the person's neck and was applying a significant amount of pressure. The video didn't have any sound, but he could tell that the person below him was gasping desperately for air. George has to look away, beginning to feel sick.

"That was agent Purpled," Darryl says sadly. "He was only 16. He had trained with Tommy, Toby, and some other kid a year ago." He nods his head to the left. George looks and sees Tommy and Toby standing together, sadly watching as a body bag is carried out of the building. George wanted to vomit. Dream really was a murderer.

"I'm going to need you to leave," an officer says behind George. He turns around, expecting to find that the officer was talking to him. To his surprise, he was talking to Dylan.

"I'm not going anywhere! He's innocent!" Dylan yells.

A man George had never seen before was holding his arms back, attempting to drag him away. "Dylan, stop! There's nothing we can do." That voice sounded oddly familiar.

Dylan rolls his eyes. "Oh fuck you, Jude!"

The man holding him, Jude, let's him go. "Dylan, you need to calm down. You don't need to be hostile."

Dylan shakes his head. "I can't believe you. You left, Jude! Look what happened because you left!" Dylan's eyes then catch George looking at them. "You're one of the good guys, 404. Fix it." He then storms off.

"How did he know my codename?" George asks Darryl.

"Don't worry, everything is fine," Darryl reassures him. "He was just probably there when Technoblade was asking about you."

"There you are, agent 404." Techno came up behind George and patted his back. "Well done. Had it not been for you and your team, we wouldn't have been able to catch Dream. I'd like to offer you a permanent spot on this team as a honey trap."

George blinks his eyes, trying to organize his thoughts. Techno was willing to hire him to be an official member of Nick's team, but George wasn't sure if he wanted that. This whole experience messed with his head. The man he thought he loved really was a criminal and there was no way George could take any more of that. "I can't."

Darryl looks at George, shocked. "What?"

"I said I can't!" George repeats, starting to feel angry. "I'm done being on this stupid team. It was fun at first, but I can't take this anymore. There's no way I'd be able to continue this position." George pulls his badge out of his pocket. "I quit."

Techno slowly takes the badge, not showing any emotion on his face. "If you insist."

George starts to walk away, but Darryl grabs his arm. "George, please don't do this."

George pulls his arm away. "I need time to heal, Darryl. Staying with the team will just be a constant reminder of everything that happened."

George walks away and Darryl tries to stop him again, but Zak grabs him. "Hey, we are taking Dream to headquarters for an interrogation."

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle this?" Darryl asks.

Zak takes a breath, then nods. "I'll be fine." Darryl pulls him into a side hug and the two make their way to the van where Vincent and Nick were already waiting for them. Nick helps Zak into the back seat and closes the door behind him. Zak reclines his chair back and closes his eyes, feeling his heart beating as if he was about to have a heart attack. He hadn't faced Dream since that night. That one night that had changed everything.

~Three Months Ago~

"Skeppy to all, I have Dream in my sights."

"BBH here, is there anyone with him?"

Zak looks at Dream from across the nicely decorated ballroom. The night was one of those fancy cocktail parties that happen every other weekend at fancy hotels. Dream was only invited because he owned the place. His date was this guy with wavy dark hair and was about his height. He also had an accent. To the normal person, it's rare. But for Zak, it was just as normal to talk to someone with an accent than it would be to talk to someone who had an American accent. "This is Skeppy. He isn't alone."

"This is Sapnap. Back-up is coming. Keep your distance." Nick and Vincent were both ten minutes away, having to come late due to helping out another team with their mission. It was just Zak and Darryl, going after a very dangerous man.

"I'm going in," Zak says.

"Skeppy, no!" Darryl says through his earpiece. "Wait for back-up."

"If I wait for back-up, we may lose him."

Darryl sighs. "Let me at least help you. Where is he?"

"Bad, I'll be fine. Skeppy out." Zak reaches up and turns his earpiece off, then begins making his way towards Dream. Though Zak was dressed as fancy as everyone else, he still seemed out of place, and Dream quickly caught onto that. One look was all it took for Dream to know exactly what Zak was there for. He darted out of the ballroom, nearly knocking over a couple of people on his way out. Zak follows after him, turning on his earpiece for a second to say, "Skeppy here. Dream is on the move." He turned it right back off and continued his chase.

As Zak rounded the corner, Dream pushed him back and pinned him against the wall, holding him there by his suit collar. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Zak keeps his cool as he looks at Dream. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"Fuck you, Zak. I know who you are. I know who you work for. You DON'T want to mess with me." Dream words sent a shiver down his spine.

"How do you know my name?" Zak asks with a shaky voice.

Dream lets go of Zak and take a step back, shocked at his own words. "Zak, you need to leave."

Zak pulls his gun from its holster and points it at Dream. "How the FUCK do you know my name?!"

"DREAM!" someone calls from around the corner. "WE NEED TO LEAVE!" Dream looks around the corner, then looks at Zak. He expected Zak to pull the trigger, but he was frozen with fear. The number one thing he was afraid of was his enemy finding his true identity. He wanted to shoot him. He wanted to make him feel pain. But he couldn't. Dream seized the opportunity and took off down the hall towards the voice that had called him. Zak collapsed to the ground.

"This is agent Skeppy. Start digging my grave. He knows my name."

The rest of his team quickly found him sitting against the wall outside of the ballroom. Darryl grabbed Zak's hands and pulled him onto his feet, wrapping his arms around him to support his weight. He could tell that Zak was in shock and he wasn't about to try to push him to talk about anything.

That night, Zak was forced to stay in the apartment in the Forte building. Darryl stayed the night with him to make sure he was alright. Darryl was worried about Zak. They had been friends for years and he couldn't stand the thought that Dream knew who Zak was. Zak's eyes were glossed over and dead and he was unresponsive. Darryl tried so many times to talk to him, but none of his words got through to him. This was all only made worse when it was reported that someone broke into Zak's home. The walls were vandalized and pricey objects were stolen. But Zak didn't care about any of that. What mostly got to him was a note.

I'll be back for you soon.

~Dream

Those six words were enough to scare Zak into hiding. At that moment, he decided that he wouldn't leave his home until Dream was behind bars. It wasn't safe for him anymore.

~Present Day~

Zak took a deep breath as he flipped through Dream's file, preparing to interrogate him. He already felt drained and he hadn't even gone into the room yet. The mood in the control room wasn't as happy as it normally was. Faster didn't even bother queueing up any music.

"You know you don't have to go in there, right?" Vincent asks.

Zak shakes his head. "It's part of my job to do this. Maybe I'll get some closure." Zak slowly opens the door and takes one final breath as he walks into the room.

Dream being in the room with him made him feel suffocated. Even though he was handcuffed to the table, Zak still feared that DReam would hurt him. He starred at a spot on the wall with a deadpan expression. Zak started writing down notes immediately, noting that Dream looks like he had been trained on interrogations. "You don't have to take notes on me," Dream says.

"I do," Zak states. "It's my job."

Dream scoffs. "I know you record these sessions, Zak. You don't have to put up an act."

Zak's heart started beating again after hearing his name. "Please, call me Skeppy."

"I will call you whatever I want to." Zak hated that Dream was being difficult.

Zak slides into the seat across from him. "I just want you to know that the cops are already on their way. Please, for once, make our jobs easy and tell us why you killed agent Purpled."

"I didn't kill anyone," Dream says.

"We have you on tape choking the agent to death," Zak says, beginning to raise his voice. "You killed a CHILD Dream!"

"Bad to Skeppy, please calm down."

Zak began to boil over with anger. "You don't get to sit there and play the victim anymore! YOU KILLED PEOPLE!"

Dream tried to stand up but ended up in a weird crouching position. "I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE!"

"WE HAVE YOU ON VIDEO!" Zak screams.

"Sapnap to Skeppy, that's enough!"

Zak looks at the glass and dramatically pulls out his earpiece, slamming it on the table.

"We need to get him out of there!" Darryl yells from the control room. He runs towards the door, but Zak had already ran to the door, locking it. Darryl jiggles the door and groans. "Vincent, go get the keys!" Vincent runs out of the room as he continues fighting against the door, hoping that he could get in.

"Dream, you've made so many lives a living hell!" Zak yells. "Do you know how scared you've made me?"

Dream makes a weird face. "What are you talking about?"

Zak digs through Dream's file and pulls out the letter that Dream had left him. He slides it across the table. "You somehow found my name and my address and you left this shit in my home."

Dream looks at the note and scoffs. "You're kidding, right?"

"What?" Zak asks.

"That's not my handwriting," Dream explains. He studies the note, slowly beginning to realize who's handwriting it really was. "Shit, I think I know what's going on."

Zak places his earpiece back in. "Hey, I need you to scan the letter and compare it to Dream's previous handwriting."

"Hello? Skeppy?" A voice asks through the earpiece. "Skeppy can you hear me?"

"Um, yes? Who is this."

"This is special agent Spifey. Agent 404 is in trouble. People are after him. Make your way to his apartment. Over and out."

"Guys, this is Skeppy. Did you hear that?"

"Sapnap here. I did. Also, I've got news. Not only did the note come back with different handwriting, but we also have Purple's autopsy. He was shot in the neck. We also inspected the video. Dream was trying to save his life."

Zak looks back at Dream. "You're innocent?"

"I tried to tell you," he says. "If I were you, I'd let me help you save George."

"Wait, how did you-"

"I'll explain on the way. Just trust me. I need to come with you."

Nick barges in with the handcuff keys in his hand he unlocks Dream's hands and pulls him up. "Look, I don't know who the hell you are, but I just got a call from someone named Zelk saying that you need to come with us."

Vincent jingles his Jets in the doorway. "Guys, if George is in trouble, we don't have time for this."

Nick grabs Dream and they all make their way down to the garage to get into their van.

"Spifey to Sapnap. How long will it take for you to get here?"

"Vincent?" Nick asks, assuming he heard the question.

"A6D to, um, Spifey? We won't be there for 20 minutes."

"SHIT! We don't have 20 minutes!" Spifey yells. He sighs. "Mega?"

"Listening." Mega says.

"How far away are you from agent 404?" Spifey asks.

"I'm 20 minutes away as well."

"Zelk here! Mega, how long will it take if you break a couple of road laws?"

Mega laughs. "Five." Before his earpiece cuts out, the group hears a motorcycle rev to life.

"What the actual fuck is happening?!" Zak asks.

Dream bites the inside of his cheek. "I'll explain everything on the way. Just drive."

———

Word Count: 2652

Published: July 27th


	13. Chapter 13

George lays in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. After spending the night with Clay, his bed felt colder. Emptier. He missed his warmth and he didn't know why. George still couldn't put his feelings into words.

"Agent 404? Are you there?" A voice asks through his earpiece.

He groans as he grabs the small thing with his fingers, saying, "I already told you, I quit!"

"NO WAIT! Don't take it out! Please. I'm begging you."

George lets go of the earpiece. "Who are you?"

"My name is Agent Zelk. We have word that there are people on their way to kill you."

"WHAT?!" George yells.

"Chill, dude. One of my teammates is on their way to get you." George then hears a knock at his front door. "You may want to get that."

George looks through his peephole and sees Geo standing awkwardly by the door. George opens it and pulls him inside. "Geo! You need to leave! There are bad people coming here."

"I know 404. I'm here to escort you out."

George squints his eyes. "What?"

Geo groans and pulls his badge out of his back pocket. He opens it up and hands it to George. "I'm Agent Spifey. My team and I work for Forte and it is our job to get you out of here."

George looks over the badge in shock. Geo's full name was written on it as well as his codename "Spifey". Where his picture was supposed to be, there was, instead, a picture of a beaver.

"What's with the beaver?" George asks.

Spifey points to the very bottom of the badge. "Keep reading."

Right underneath this codename in big bolded letters was the words: 

**Undercover Team**

"I thought the undercover team was dead," George whispers.

Geo shrugs. "You also thought that Dream was a murderer."

"He is, Geo. I saw the video," George says, voice quivering.

"He didn't kill anyone. Agent Purpled was shot and Dream was trying to save his life. It looked like he was choking him, but he wasn't." He grabs his badge from George. "I'll tell you more later. We need to get going."

Outside, the sound of multiple gunshots rings through the air, followed by a young voice shouting, "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

Geo rolls his eyes and drags George outside. There was a man on the ground, a gun a few feet away from his hands. Beside him was a motorcyclist, wearing a helmet that covered his face. It was the same motorcyclist that had helped George during the car chase. His bike still had scratches on it from when he was taken out. Somehow, the kid not only survived but only came out with a hurt wrist.

The kid notices Geo and George and waves them over. "We are running out of time, guys. I've already sent our meetup to our team leader and Zelk is on his way there."

"Team leader?" George asks.

The kid shrugs. "Yeah. Darryl is your team leader. We have our own. He's also out tech guy."

Another bullet flies through the air and hits the kid's helmet, leaving a long mark across the side of it. The kid ripped off his helmet, letting his dark hair fall onto his forehead. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THIS WAS BRAND NEW! WHOEVER SHOT THAT OWES ME A NEW HELMET!"

"Dylan?" George starts laughing. "This is a fever dream. This has to be a fever dream." few more bullets fly through the air, nearly hitting George.

"Mega, get then away from here. I'll take George," Spifey instructs.

"You better get him to the meetup without a single scratch," Dylan says, putting his helmet back on. "Our leader will kill you if you don't."

Geo nods. "Oh, I'm aware." He grabs George and the two run to Geo's car together. George gets in on the passenger side and buckled up and Geo does the same on his side. "Login Spifey."

The car comes to life, saying, "Welcome Spifey" in a robotic voice. The whole dashboard lights up, being filled with buttons and touchscreens, ready to be used.

"Car, go to meet-up," Spifey instructs. The screen behind the steering wheel switches to a GPS with an arrival time of 12 minutes. "Zelk? It's Spifey."

"Great. Agent 404, can you hear me?"

"Uh, yeah?" George responds.

"Awesome. If your earpiece cuts out, let Spifey know. Our tech guy is here and listening just in case we need him."

George groans. "I swear to god if Jake is the tech guy, I'm going to lose my mind."

"Well," Zelk says, "I am Jake, but I'm not the tech guy."

"I'm going to bash my head into the window," George states, becoming more and more dazed as the seconds roll by.

"Please don't hurt yourself," Zelk pleads.

"Alright, Zelk, can you connect 404's team to our server?" Spifey asks.

"Yes. One second." George hears Zelk type something, then hears him ask, "Can you hear me, Agent Sapnap?"

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Nick screams. Yep. He could hear them.

"Sapnap, I'm taking your team's talking privileges so that we can focus on the task at hand," Zelk explains. "Just make sure you guys make it to our meet-up spot across the bridge."

"Mega here, I have good news and bad news." Mega's voice was followed by the sound of sirens.

Spifey sighs. "What did you do this time?"

"I was able to lose the guys after George, but now the cops are after me."

"Are you KIDDING ME?!" Spifey exclaims.

"Zelk said I could break a few road laws!" Mega defends.

"I said you could break them to get to 404!" Zelk responds. "NOT after we pick him up."

"Can you guys CALM DOWN?!" A new voice yells over the earpieces. "I'm trying to do my job over here!"

"Sorry Finn," Spifey says, cringing. "Just sign off." He looks out his rearview mirrors and makes a weird sound that was somewhere between a yell and a groan. There was a black car right on their tail. "One of the cars found us. I'm going off course." He hits a button in the dashboard that sends the car flying forward. George wraps his arms around himself and sinks into his seat, beginning to feel sick. The GPS continuously rerouted, trying to get Spifey to drive in a different direction than he was going. He made as many turns as possible, desperate to shake the car off of his trail. He then turns down an alleyway to try and hide, but the car was still close enough to see where they went. Spifey presses his foot farther into the gas pedal as bullets begin bouncing off of the bumper.

"Mega to Spifey, I'm coming in hot! Stay to the right!"

Spifey does what he's told and hugs the right wall just as Mega on his bike stops in the middle of the alleyway exit. He pulls out his handgun and shoots at the car behind them, blowing out the two front tires. The car then veers off to the side and hits the brick wall of a building. Once Spifey made it to the alleyway exit, he stops.

"Mega, where are the cops?" Spifey asks.

Mega shrugs from his bike. "I lost them a few streets back."

"Great! I can't wait to explain this one to Finn!" Zelk says sarcastically. "I'm sure he'll love having to speak to the cops again!"

"He's going to have to deal with it," Mega says. "It's not the first time I've gotten in trouble and it won't be the last." He revs his motorcycle. "Let's get moving!" He takes off and Spifey follows him.

"How are you holding up, 404?" Spifey asks.

"I don't know anymore," he admits. "Clay is somehow innocent, the undercover team wasn't killed, and his three friends are all agents." He laughs. "I think I was killed in my sleep or something because this is nuts."

"No, you are very much alive," Spifey responds. He continues following Mega through the streets, eventually getting back on course.

"Zelk to all. I'm here with 404's team at our meet-up spot. Where are you three?"

"Mega here. Ten minutes away. We are pulling up to the bridge right now."

In front of them was the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The moonlight reflected off of the metal cable and cast beautiful lights onto the bay it reached over. George always thought that the bridge was beautiful, but he couldn't find its beauty this time. He was too focused on trying not to have a mental breakdown.

"There are so many cars on the bridge! It's literally two in the morning!" Mega complains. "GO HOME!" He pulls out his gun and begins shooting straight into the air, trying to scare cars off of the bridge. And it worked. People sped off to avoid who they thought was a murderer. With the bridge mostly empty, they silently decided it was clear enough to cross. Mega took the lead once again and drove onto the bridge, driving 15 miles over the speed limit. About halfway across, he skids to a stop in front of a box on the side of the bridge.

He gets off his bike and looks at the box. "Shit. Mega here. There's a bomb on the bridge!" He looks down the bridge and realized that there are multiple boxes lining it. The timer on the box was ticking down with only two minutes left. "We need to deactivate the bombs. We won't make it across the bridge in time."

"You took tech classes with the agency, Mega," Zelk reminds him. "Deactivate it."

Mega scoffs. "Seriously? Do you really think I paid enough attention to those stupid lectures to defuse a bomb? It's a fucking bomb, Zelk!"

"We need to call him," Spifey decides.

"No. We can't! You know this!" Zelk says.

Spifey shakes his head. "Zelk, he is the only one here that'd be able to do this in time!"

"He made us SWEAR not to ask for his help!" Zelk yells.

"But he also SWORE to US that he'd protect us as a fellow teammate!" Spifey yells back. "404 is in here and is barely keeping it together. It'll wreck him!"

"JUST DRIVE FAST!" Zelk screams.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD SHUT UP!" Mega screeches. Everyone falls silent, knowing what he was about to do. They didn't really have a choice though, he needed his help.

"Mega to Dream. Deactivate the bomb."

George freezes, waiting to hear who would talk next. He couldn't breathe when he heard Clay's voice say, "Bombs deactivated, drive with caution."

The rest of the trip was spent riding in silence. It's a good thing they were close to their destination because the silence was killing George. He wanted an explanation of some sort, but he couldn't find the right words to use to ask. Eventually, they pull up to a building where a black van was parked right outside of. George's whole team was standing outside except for Zak, who was probably inside of the van. Nick was pacing, feeling incredibly nervous. When he hears the sound of the vehicles, he looks up and his concerned look drops into relief. The second the car stops, George pops the door open and staggers out towards Nick, legs nearly collapsing under him.

Nick grabs him and pulls him into a tight hug. "Oh my god, I thought I was going to lose you."

George wraps his shaking arms around him. "I'm so confused," he whispers.

"I can explain everything," Clay says from behind George, startling him.

George pulls away from Nick to face Clay. "Ok, fine. How about we start with WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!"

Clay pulls out his badge and hands it to George. "My name is Agent Dream. I'm the leader of the undercover team. During our last mission, I was accused of murders that I'm not guilty of. My team and I had to go into hiding because I thought that Forte was going to kill me." He closes his eyes. "I thought you were going to kill me, George. That's why I freaked out. I was scared."

"YOU WERE SCARED?!" George yells. "HOW DO YOU THINK I FELT?!"

"George, I know everything is messy right now, but-"

"Messy isn't the word I'd use," George states. "Fucked? Maybe. But not messy. Why were you so angry at me for working with Forte when you work for them too?"

"He's not good with handling fear," Mega answers for him.

George turns around to face Mega, Zelk, and Spifey. "Don't even get me STARTED on you three!"

Nick grabs George's arms. "Hey, calm down. I know you're upset and confused, but they aren't the bad guys."

Zak finally steps out of the car and stops when he sees Mega. "You!" He hisses through his teeth.

Mega rolls his eyes. "Took you long enough to recognize me!"

"I never saw any footage from the dates and you never spoke around me so I had no idea what you sounded like!" Zak seemed pissed.

"You two know each other?" George asks.

"Yeah," Zak replies. "I use to teach a bunch of the kids working here how to do basic coding stuff." He looks back at Mega. "But this kid thought it was the funniest thing to just hack into my computer and fuck with my presentations!"

Mega laughs. "Oh come on, it was funny!"

"I could fucking kill you," Zak mumbles.

Darryl claps his hands. "Ok, I get that tensions are running high. Let's get back to the Forte offices so we can figure out where to go from here. Ok?" No one says anything. "Perfect! We will meet you guys at the offices!" Darryl shoves everyone into the van and slides into the front seat. As soon as all of the doors were closed, he groans. "This has been one hell of a night."

"LANGUAGE!" Everyone yells in unison.

Darryl rolls his eyes. "You were thinking if too. Don't even try me right now." He puts the Can into drive and begins heading towards the office building.

———

Word Count: 2365

So, the undercover team is alive and Dream is their leader. I wonder how that's going to come into play. And if Dream isn't the murderer, who is? I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Don't forget to join my discord server where you can talk to some pretty awesome people! I'm currently taking OC submissions, so if you would like your OC to be possibly featured in this story or in a future story, join the server! I will post the link below as well as in my comments!

<3 App1es

https://discord.gg/B2dx7T

Published: July 28th


	14. Chapter 14

There was a thick layer of tension in the conference room. The room had practically been split in half with George's team on one side and Clay's team on the other. No one knew what to say. George had found that his team was angry. They didn't understand why Clay didn't just tell them that he was an agent himself. Nick also brought up the fact that Techno would've known that Clay was an agent, so there should've been no reason that all of this happened. Clay's team, on the other hand, looked more ashamed than anything. Well, they all did except for Dylan, who was in some sort of angry staring contest with Zak.

Their weird silent stare-off ended when Darryl walked through the door, carrying enough cups of coffee for his own team. It was still very early in the morning, so they all agreed that they needed caffeine to push through the rest of the morning. "Ok, you muffins, let's just have a civilized conversation about what happened. Ok? We are all adults here."

"Dylan isn't an adult," Zak says sourly. "He's a petulant child."

Dylan slams his fist on the table and stands up, sending his chair falling behind him. "You're one to talk! Back when I took that class from you, all you ever wanted to do was mess with the class!"

"I was trying to make things FUN, unlike you, who'd go and ruin everything I tried to put together!" Zak was getting fired up. George couldn't believe he was arguing with a kid like this. Had he not just been involved with a huge amount of drama, he probably would've laughed.

Dylan rolls his eyes. "We were there to learn, not to be fucked with!"

"Language!" Darryl yells. "You two need to calm down. We can all talk through this calmly."

"That's easy for you to say!" Zak says to him.

Darryl rubs Zak's arm. "You're ok now. You know that, right?"

Zak looks at Clay. "Just because he doesn't want to kill me doesn't mean I trust him."

"We have no reason not to trust him!" Darryl states.

Nick raises his hand. "I don't trust him."

Clay narrows his eyes. "What did I ever do to you?"

"You lowkey stalked George to find our home and you would've hurt him had I not come home when I did," Nick explains. "You also made me drop my box of donuts which pissed off."

Clay groans. "I didn't stalk anyone. He gave me everything I needed to find him." He then mumbles, "he's not that great of an agent," under his breath.

"Take that back!" George shouts. Clay's eyes meet his, realizing that George heard what he said. "I was literally thrown into this job! I never asked for it! NEVER!"

"George, we know," Geo says.

George scoffs. "Don't even talk to me, beaver boy."

Jake laughs. "Oh my god. I'm using that one. I can see it now. 'Zelk to Beaver Boy. Come in Beaver Boy!'"

"I swear to god if you call me Beaver Boy, I May have to kill you," Geo threatens.

"Why are we even talking about beavers?" Vincent asks. "This is ridiculous."

Geo fishes his badge out of his pocket and tosses it to Vincent from across the room. Vincent opens it and sees the beaver that George had seen earlier. "Why doesn't it have your picture on here?"

"We're undercover agents," Jake explains. "We can't just walk around with our pictures on our badges." The other three pull out their badges to show them off. Jake's picture was a teddy bear with a Superman sweater on it and Dylan's was a drawing of a rose with a black background. Clay's was the funniest one in George's opinion. His badge had a picture of one of those big marshmallows that had a smiley face made from red food dye. What made it funny was the fact that it was obvious that the food dye dripped down the marshmallow after it had been applied. One of the eyes had a faint streak under it and the smile itself was runny. George caught himself starting to smile looking at the picture and decided to ask a question to hide his amusement.

"Aren't all agents undercover?" George asks.

"Sort of," Jake responds, "but we are the ones that go in and become the people we are going after. Like, we will become criminals if it means learning the information we need."

"I see Dream took that one too far," Vincent jokes.

Clay rolls his eyes. "I was framed! Have we not already established that?"

"Why would Techno want us after you if you were innocent?" George asks.

Clay shrugs. "Maybe it's because he thought I was too dangerous to be kept alive."

"We were never going to kill you, dude," Nick says. "We seriously just wanted to bring you in for questioning."

"How was I supposed to know that before?" Clay asks. "You guys would literally chase me down and corner me!"

"Can you all PLEASE get off of your earpieces?!" A voice yells over everyone's earpieces. "Unlike you all, I'm trying to get some work done."

"Mega to Finn, just get on a different channel."

Finn groans. "Fine. But you better pick me up when my night shift is over. Don't forget again. Over and out."

"Wait time is it, Dylan?" Clay asks.

Dylan looks at his phone. "2:30. I need to go pick him up in 30 minutes."

"Dude, he will kill you if you pick him up on your bike again," Geo warns.

Dylan shrugs. "If he wants me to pick him up, he needs to deal with it."

"Mega, you didn't shut off your earpiece," Finn says. "I'm not riding on your damn bike again. I already lost one beanie. I'm not losing another."

Dylan dramatically groans. "Fine! I'll figure out another vehicle to pick you up in. Jeez." He looks at Geo. "I need your car."

Geo laughs. "You're not getting my car, but nice try."

"Why can't I have the car?"

"I'm going to answer your question with my own question," Geo decides. "How many times have you been arrested in the last month due to things related to driving?"

"I don't know...." Dylan says.

Clay clears his throat, then proceeds to read a text from his phone. "Dude, Zelk is going to kill me! This is the seventh time I've been arrested in the last three weeks." He looks up to Jake. "He got arrested again two days ago, by the way."

Jake gives Dylan a look of disapproval. "Are you kidding me?"

Dylan picks his chair up from the floor and sits down. "I was going to tell you later."

"Why does Dylan keep getting arrested?" Darryl asks.

"Because he's reckless!" Jake answers.

"I am not! I drive fast because you guys are constantly needing me to get across town in 10 minutes!" Dylan says, attempting to defend himself.

Jake rubs his face. "No, Dylan, we expect you to get where we need you as fast as possible."

"Oh, fuck you!" Dylan growls.

"LANGUAGE!" Darryl shouts.

Jake looks at Clay. "Control your child, please."

Clay laughs. "He is not my child."

"He is a child and he lives with you, therefore, he is your child," Jake explains.

Clay and Dylan both look at each other with disgusted faces. "No," Clay says. "Just, no."

"So you two live together?" Vincent asks.

Clay nods. "Long story short, my team was on a mission and I was cornered by myself and was stabbed. Dylan ran away from his boarding school and stumbled upon the guys attacking me. For some reason, Dylan had fireworks and set them off, making the guys attacking me think that they were being shot at. We kind of took him in like he was a stray puppy dog."

"Ok, for context, it was the fourth of July and I stole them from a firework stand," Dylan explains. "They were called snappers. They are like those pop-its that kids play with, but much bigger and louder. I dropped a bunch at the same time and it scared the shit out of them."

"Ok, that's kind of cool," Zak admits.

"Hell yeah!" Clay says. "If he didn't do that, I may have died! So, I took him in and he lives with me. I act as his teacher and Finn makes fake report cards and stuff to send to his parents so they don't know he isn't at school."

"That kind of sounds like you kidnapped him," Nick says. No one in Clay's group tried to defend themselves, but they also didn't want to admit that it was kind of true. Nick notices it and laughs. "You guys are ridiculous I swear."

The door to the conference room opens up and Techno steps inside, holding George's badge in his hands. "Hello, agents. I see you're all doing well."

"Oh, that's funny!" Zak says. "You and I pronounce 'painfully confused' differently."

Techno ignores Zak's sarcasm and walks over to George, holding out his badge. "The job is still yours, you know?"

George sighs and takes the badge. "I'll stay for now, but no promises that I'll stay for a long time."

Techno nods. "I understand, but I have a new assignment for your team."

"What is it, sir?" Darryl asks.

"I want you to get to the bottom of who framed Dream," Techno explains. "Just because Agent Dream is innocent, doesn't mean that there isn't a murderer out there. I need you to get out there and figure this whole thing out." He then looks at the undercover team. "Because this revolves around Dream's team, I'd like you all to work together."

"HA!" Dylan yells, highly entertained. But his smiles drops. "Wait, you're not joking."

Techno shakes his head. "Not in the slightest. I expect to hear a plan from you all in the next few days of how you plan to figure this out." On his way out, he stops in the doorway. "I'm glad to have you back on board, George. You're very important to this mission." He then leaves, closing the door behind him.

"I guess we need to fill Jude in then," Jake says.

"Jude?" Vincent asks.

"That's Finnster," Dylan explains. He looks down at his phone and begins aggressively typing.

"Who are you always talking to?" George asks. "You're always on your phone and it makes you angry."

Dylan rolls his eyes. "I was put in this group chat with two fo the other agents here that I used to be close with. Their names are Tommy and Toby. I'm sure you've met them already." He shows his phone to Clay. "Tommy just called me a bitch boy. How the hell do I respond to that?"

Clay smirks. "Call him a pissbaby." Dylan laughs as he types it into a text. Clay then looks at George. "Can we talk in private, please?"

George reluctantly nods, not wanting to talk to him. Clay leads the way into the hall. As soon as the door closes behind them, George asks, "Why did you get so mad at me when you found out I work here?"

"I felt betrayed," Clay explains. "I thought this agency was out to kill me, George. I thought you were out to kill me."

George shakes his head. "I'd never kill you, Clay. I wouldn't have been able to do that."

The two stand in silence, trying to figure out what to say next. "You know I still love you, right?" Clay asks.

George looks away from him. "I'm sorry, Clay. I just can't do this with you right now."

Clay places his hand under George's chin, making him face him. "George, please don't shut me out."

George grabs Clay's hand and removes it from his chin. "Clay, we need to rebuild our trust before we can even begin to think of any sort of relationship."

Clay nods sadly. "You're right. I'm sorry. I've just never felt like this before."

George stifles a laugh. "Oh, trust me. I know the feeling."

Clay grabs George's hand and steps closer to him. "Can I please kiss you? Just one last time?" George takes a deep breath and nods. They both slowly lean into each other, ready to kiss each other goodbye.

The conference doors swing open as Dylan bursts out of the room, pulling Nick behind him. Clay and George jump away from each other to avoid being run over by Dylan. "WE NEED TO GO! JUDE WILL KILL ME IF IM LATE AGAIN!"

He runs to the elevator, Nick still in his grasp. As he waits for the elevator, he turns to Clay and George. "GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE! COME ON!!!" Clay and George both shrug at each other and make their way to the elevator, ready to go pick up Jude.

———

Word Count: 2156

Don't forget to join my discord server where you can talk to some pretty awesome people! I'm currently taking OC submissions, so if you would like your OC to be possibly featured in this story or in a future story, join the server! I will post the link below as well as in my comments!

<3 App1es

https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Published: July 30th


	15. Chapter 15

Dylan shoves everyone into Geo's car and fumbles with the keys until he finds the right one.

"Dylan, we have plenty of time to get there," Clay says. "Why did you rush us out."

"Because I stole Geo's keys and needed to leave before he killed me!" He looks out of the rearview mirror and sees Geo running towards the car. "Alright. Gotta blast!" He quickly puts the car in gear and speeds out of the parking lot, leaving Geo in a cloud of smoke.

As he drove, Geo was yelling at him through the earpieces, saying things like, "If you hurt my car I'm hurting you!" and "I HOPE you get arrested ASSHOLE!" Dylan only laughed as he shouted, knowing that nothing bad would happen to him. Geo would get over it. Eventually.

The car ride was short thanks to Dylan, once again, breaking basic traffic laws. George still had no idea how he wasn't in jail. He started becoming car sick, having to close his eyes in the back seat, and focus on not puking. He had never been more thankful to arrive at his destination than he was right now.

Dylan parked the car and everyone got out, looking at the big neon sign glowing above a large bar of some sort. "I am so excited to get to go inside this time!" Dylan states. "I haven't been this early in ages!"

"What is this place?" George asks.

"It's the Drunken Pirate," Clay replies. "We all worked here undercover before I was arrested. Well, all of us except Dylan."

"Oh, so you were a bartender?" George asks.

Dylan begins laughing so hard that he had to lean on Clay for support. "Oh please! He was a stripper."

"WHAT?!" George shouts in shock. His shout was followed by laughter as Clay's face goes bright red.

"What?" Clay asks. "I did what I had to do to get the job done."

"George, you would've loved it!" Dylan teases. "He worked out every day to make sure he was in peak physical condition!"

Clay elbows him in the stomach, making him bend over in pain. "Let's just grab Finn and get out of here."

Dylan leads the way into the large club with a huge bar in the middle of the room and a beautiful stage with a catwalk pressed up against the wall. Blue and purple lights flashed as a woman dances on stage to the blaring pop song playing over the speakers. She had on a short blue skirt and a white tank top, with stilettos that could be used as a weapon if she needed it. Her olive legs were covered in some sort of blue and purple glitter and a few butterfly clips held back her curly brown hair that turned blue at the ends. The stage was lined with mostly men, throwing money into the air.

"I feel uncomfortable," George whispers to Clay, who seemed just as cool and collected as usual.

"Why?" Clay asks.

George points to the woman on the stage. "We are in a strip club and there's girls dancing. I'm not the biggest fan of places like these."

"Well, not exactly. Some of the dancers here don't undress at all," Dylan explains.

Nick looks at him. "Why are you even here? You're too young to be in here!"

"Dylan!" A woman calls from behind them. George decided that there was no way she was older than 19. Her long, curly white hair slowly faded into pink, then into red the further down George looked. She wore a short, pink dress with a white jacket that clung to her curves. Her outfit made George slightly uncomfortable, but it seemed to be the normal attire in there. She was shorter than Dylan, so she had to stand up on her toes to hug him.

Dylan wraps his arms around her and looks at George. "This is why."

"It's been a while since I've seen you here!" The woman says, excitedly.

"Sorry, Ruby. I know it's a been a while," Dylan says.

Ruby pulls away and looks at George and Nick. "Who are these two?"

"They work with us at the offices," Dylan explains.

Ruby nods and winks at them. "Oh, I see. Gotcha. Jude won't be it for a few more dances. Strawberry is up there doing her set. Can I get you guys a drink or something?"

"Sure!" Clay says, sounding a little too excited.

Nick nods. "I may need one too."

"Alright, I'll be back with a little something for all of us!" Ruby says happily.

She starts to walk towards the bar but stops when she sees Nick following her. "Sorry, but you probably should stay with your group."

"Why's that?" Nicks asks.

Ruby motions towards the bar where there is an older man pouring drinks for a few younger men. Nick couldn't tell what he was saying, but it was obvious that he was hitting on the guys. "Chad is working the bar tonight and, trust me, you don't want to go up there."

"What's so wrong with Chad?" Nick asks.

Dylan grabs Nick's arm and pulls him back. "Trust me, dude, you don't want to go over there."

Nick pulls his arm away from Dylan. "I'm a big kid. I think I can handle a bartender." He walks over to the bar and waves Chad over. "Hey man! I was hoping to order some drinks for me and my friends."

The man looks Nick up and down and bites his lip. "You're looking nice tonight."

Nick was highly confused by the man. Unlike all of the waitresses and dancers around him, Chad was much older and had no sex appeal. He had a heavy British accent that made him a little hard to understand. Every employee there had some sort of theme to their outfit, and Chad was no exception. He was dressed like a Pirate, but his clothing was a little too revealing for Nick's liking.

"What can I get for you, lovely?" He asks.

"What do you recommend?" Nick asks, trying to ignore Chad's flirtatious comments.

"Tea," he responds.

"Oh, like a Long Island iced tea?" Nick asks.

Chad shakes his head. "Just tea. That is all." He places his hand on top of Nick's. "I can give you a little something special if you want."

Behind Nick, a woman gags. "Chad, stop hitting on him. You're married." Nick turns around and finds himself facing the woman that was dancing onstage earlier. He found himself getting lost in her dark, deep eyes. She was even more gorgeous up close than from far away. She nervously smiles at Nick. "Don't mind him, he's always like this." She removes Chad's hand from Nick's. "Give me a round of fireball shots to start the night. I'm buying for this guy and his friends over there." Chad does a quick headcount of everyone, then pours four shot glasses full of orange liquid. Both Nick and the woman grab two of the glasses and begin their walk back towards their group.

"Thanks for saving me back there," Nick says. "I can't say I've ever had someone so creepy hit on me."

The woman laughs. "Of course! Anything for a cutie like you." His face becomes flushed, making her giggle. "You're fun to mess with."

Nick found himself flustered. He didn't know what to make of her. She seemed so confident, yet shy at the same time. "S-so what's your name?"

"I'm Angel, but onstage, you can call me Strawberry."

When they reach the others, she smiles. "Hey, you two!" she says, looking at Dylan and Clay. "It took you two long enough to come back to visit!" She gives the two shot-glasses in her hand to Clay and George. "Just a little something to get you guys buzzed."

"Who's the last shot for?" Sapnap asks, holding it up.

"I guess Chad poured an extra one," Strawberry says. "Just hold onto it, for now, I guess."

The current song finishes, so the woman dancing prances offstage, winking at one of the men by the stage as she leaves. Over the speakers, a voice calls out, "And now, the one you've been waiting for! Please give a warm welcome to our resident E-girl, ROSE!" The crowd around the stage goes wild as a beautiful blonde woman steps onto the stage, playfully waving at the men in front of her. She wore a beanie that kept her long hair perfectly styled as she began to dance. Her dress was black, with a red flannel skirt.

"So, while we've been busy trying to clear Clay's name, Jude has been working on this case," Dylan explains to George and Nick. "He's been getting in the owner's good graces to see if he's laundering money here at the club."

"Where is he?" George asks, looking around. Dylan grabs his head and turns it towards the woman dancing on stage. "Is he in that crowd?"

Clay laughs. "Actually, he's the one onstage."

George looked at the dancing woman, painfully confused. She had gorgeous curves and beautiful legs that were covered with knee-high socks. Her skirt was quite short, but George figured it had to be if she worked here. "That's the guy?"

"You're looking at the best honey trap in the agency," Dylan smirks. "He's." He walks closer to the stage, then says, "Mega to Finn, we need you."

The dancer scans the crowd around the stage and stops when he sees Dylan. He flirtatiously waves him over. Dylan grabs Clay and George and drags them towards the stage, pushing through people as he went. Strawberry and Ruby both giggled together as they followed after them.

Up close, George found himself staring at the agent onstage. He was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. "I thought I was gay," he whispers.

"And I thought I was straight," Sapnap says beside him. "Yet here we are." They both drink their shots together as they stare at the dancer.

"You guys are dramatic," Clay says, rolling his eyes.

"Oh really?" Dylan asks. "That's not what you said when you first met his lady persona."

"DUDE!" Clay shouts defensively.

Dylan begins cackling. "Hey, you're the one that called him hot, not me!"

"Ok, well, Finn has that effect on people, I guess," Clay says, turning even more red than he was before.

George takes the extra shot out of Nick's hand and throws it back, then returns his gaze to Finn. "I don't understand this. How can I guy look like that?"

"Mega to Finn, 404 likes you." From the stage, Finn blows a kiss to George, making his heart pound.

George covers his face as he repeatedly says to himself, "I'm gay. I'm gay. I'm gay. I'm gay. I'm gay."

Nick pats his back. "I feel your pain, buddy. I really do."

"Ok, we get it!" Clay practically shouts. "He's hot! So what?!"

"Someone is jealous!" Dylan teases.

"SHUT UP, DYLAN!" Clay yells. Dylan bursts into laughter once again as he faces the stage.

Finn finishes his dance and strikes a final pose. The crowd goes crazy, throwing their money at him. He picks up all of the bills and, on his way backstage, he stops in front of Dylan. "Meet me behind the building in 20 minutes." He then gracefully walks off the stage, leaving George and Nick both sexually confused.

"I should probably get backstage too," Strawberry says. As she walks away, she winks at Nick, making his heart melt.

"Wow," Nick whispers. "She is just...wow."

"Yeah," Dylan says. "They are pretty cool."

"I was only talking about Strawberry," Nick explains.

"I know," Dylan says. "Straw is non-binary."

"Oh!" Nick says. "Got it. Great. Sounds cool."

"I don't think I've ever seen you so flustered!" George teases him.

Nick shoves him. "Whatever. Let's just go get Finn behind the building.

Dylan says goodbye to Ruby as she makes her way to the stage to dance, then the group makes their way back towards the car. "Man, I missed these people," Dylan says.

"Really?" Nick asks.

"Yeah, the dancers here kind of adopted me," Dylan replies. "I love them." They all get into the car and Dylan places the key in the ignition. They drive around back and wait for Finn while George and Nick both continue to question their sexualities. The back door opens after about 25 minutes and two people walk out. One of them was Strawberry, but George could only tell it was them because of their hair. They just had on grey sweatpants and a blue tank top on. All of their makeup and body glitter was gone. The only thing they still had left from their performance was the butterfly clips in their hair. Walking beside them was a guy, also wearing sweatpants. He had on a simple black sweatshirt that blended in with the darkness of the early morning. His hair was long enough to hang in his eyes, but he had it pushed to the side so that it was out of the way. Had it not been for his black beanie, George would have had no idea that he was Finn.

Finn knocks on the window and Dylan rolls it down. "Hey, don't be so crazy when you drive, ok? Strawberry is going to follow us."

"Aren't we going back to the offices?" Nick asks.

"Oh, Straw knows that we are agents. They're the one that taught me how to be a performer, so their one of us." He looks at Nick. "They've also taken quite an interest in one of you." As Nick silently panics, Finn opens the back door and climbs over George to sit in the middle of the backseat. George could see Clay looking at him through the rearview mirrors. For some reason, he was glad Clay was watching. He enjoyed making him jealous.

Finn noticed the silent exchange happening between Clay and George and smirked. He got on his phone and typed out a message, then handed it to George to see.

**If you don't fucking tell him you love him, I will.**

George looked up at Finn and saw him biting his bottom lip to avoid laughing. George smiled back, hoping that Clay was watching. Finn playfully rolled his eyes, then took his phone back, jumping into a group chat that was labeled, "My Bois" that comprised of him, Jake, and Geo. George became slightly annoyed when he saw Finn write, " **Guys. It has been confirmed. 404 is a Dream simp.** "

———

Word Count: 2434

Don't forget to join my discord server where you can talk to some pretty awesome people! I'm currently taking OC submissions, so if you would like your OC to be possibly featured in this story or in a future story, join the server! I will post the link below as well as in my comments!

<3 App1es

https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Published: July 30th


	16. Chapter 16

George was thankful when they made it back to the Forte building. The ride was silent because no one really had anything to say. They could all feel the tension in the air, especially now that Jude was sitting in the car with them. George liked him at first but started to change his mind a little bit when Jude kept talking about him in his group chat. He, Geo, and Jake kept going on and on about how "in love" George and Clay were. The car came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the parking lot, jolting everyone forward. After a moment, Clay begins uncontrollably wheezing as Dylan mumbles profanities under his breath. Not too far in front of the car, Geo was in the middle of the path, straddling Dylan's motorcycle. Understanding that some sort of stand-off was going down, Strawberry parks the car in a spot behind them, deciding they'd rather walk to the door than wait for this to end.

Dylan rolls down his window and sticks his head out. "Geo, move before I run you over!"

Geo laughs. "You wouldn't hurt your precious bike, would you?"

"Geo! Come on! MOVE!" Dylan demands.

Geo shakes his head. "Get out of my car and hand over the keys, or I let your bike fall over."

Dylan gasps. "You wouldn't!"

Geo shrugs. "Try me!"

"You two are ridiculous," Jude says from beside George.

"Oh, shut up!" Dylan growls. He rolls up the window and puts the car in park, but refuses to leave.

"This is exactly what happened last time!" Clay laughs. "You two are so dumb!"

"This isn't exactly like last time! He didn't let my bike fall last time!" Dylan responds. "I'll just wait him out and he will leave eventually."

Almost as if he heard Dylan, Geo abruptly stands up and gets off of the bike. He holds one of the handles in his hand. "I'll give you to the count of three!" Geo yells. "One...........Two............THREE!" When he reaches three, he shoves the bike over, letting it fall onto its side.

Dylan yanks the keys out of the ignition and storms out of the car. "You did NOT just fucking do that!"

Geo laughs. "Oh, but I did!"

Dylan chucks the keys at Geo and picks his bike off of the ground. As he inspects it for any damage, Jude says, "We should get going before they try to kill each other again."

"Shouldn't we make sure that neither of them die?" Nick asks.

Jude smiles. "They'll be fine!" George pops his car door open and exits, helping Jude out behind him. Nick and Clay both get out of their side of the car and begin walking to meet up with Strawberry by the building entrance. "So," Jude says quiet enough to keep Clay and Nick from hearing. "When are you going to ask Clay to be yours?"

"Never!" George says, almost too quickly. "We are not a thing."

Jude nods. "Right. And I'm not a straight cross-dresser who works a killer pair of heels." He stops George and turns him around. "Look, I know that you two are having problems, but as captain of this ship, it is my duty to make sure it happens."

George giggles. "You are not the captain of this ship because there is no ship!"

Jude laughs. "Oh, there's a ship, honey. And it set sail the night you two fucked!"

George groans. "Can we please not talk about that?"

Behind them, they hear Dylan begin yelling about there being a new scratch on the side of his motorcycle. Geo laughs until he sees Dylan charging at him. Jude looks at George. "Had they not began making all of that noise, we would've talked about it. For now, let's just go inside." He takes a few steps, then stops. "But just so we are clear, this isn't over, honey."

The four meet up with Strawberry and all of them ride the elevator up to the tech lab, where Skeppy had begged them to meet him. He claimed he had been working on something for George, which made him excited. They walk inside and find Vincent, Darryl, and Jake all hunched over a table, talking through some things.

"Why were there bombs on the bridge?" Jake asks. "That's the one thing that is bothering me. No one would've known we'd be going that way because that's something only the agency knows about."

"I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for this," Vincent claims. "Maybe the bombs were placed there to blow the bridge. It may not have had anything to do with us."

Darryl nods in agreement. "The odds that those were just perfectly placed for us is crazy. I wouldn't go too nuts trying to figure that out."

Darryl's reassurance didn't seem to help, but Jake dropped it when he noticed everyone walk in. "Hey, guys!"

"What's so important that we had to be here for?" Nick asks.

Zak comes riding up to them on a scooter with a big smile on his face. "Look what I've made!"

Clay sighs. "I hate to break it to you, but scooters are already a thing."

Zak rolls his eyes as he jumps off of it. "Ha. Ha. You are so funny." He turns his attention to George. "Check this thing out! On this electric scooter, there's a touchpad for communicating as well as for GPS. I've also added in a voice-activated AI that will do anything you need it to." He then turns to a table and grabs a cheap-looking bell that most bicycles have. As he attaches it, he giggles, "This is my favorite part! Click this thing two times and it knocks the power out of all buildings in a three-mile radius! It'll be super useful for when we need to distract enemies and getting into buildings." He pushes it to George. "It's yours, by the way."

George smiles widely as he takes the scooter's handlebars in his hands. "This is so cool! I'll be fucking zooming around everywhere!" He looks at Zak sincerely. "Thank you. This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

Clay scoffs. "Oh please. That's nothing!" Clay opens up his backpack and pulls out a makeup bag, then waves Jude over. "I made this all on my own at my house since I didn't have access to the labs here. Inside this bag is a collection of deadly weapons that you'll love!" He zips it open and pulls out a tube of mascara. "Boom!"

"Clay, mascara is powerful, but it's not a deadly weapon," Jude says, patting his back.

Clay hits a small button on the side of it and presses it against Jude's neck, making him recoil with pain and shock. "What the FUCK?!"

Clay wheezes. "It's a stun gun, Jude! I wasn't going to just give you makeup!" He then pulls out a skinny vile of concealer. "And this is a tube of pepper spray. I'm not going to show off that one because of obvious reasons."

Jude pulls out a pencil eyeliner, noticing that it also had a small button on the side of it. He points it away from everyone else and clicks it, making the end of it light up. "Flashlight!"

George pulls out the final piece of makeup, a lipstick, and pops it open. "What does this thing do?"

Just before he points it at his face, Clay hits it out of his hand and sends it flying. Strawberry catches it in their hands, making a face at the guys. "Seriously? You guys nearly hit me with this thing!"

"Why did you hit it out of my hand?" George asks as Clay retrieves the lipstick from Strawberry.

"It's a gun, George. But it can only hold one bullet at a time. You pointed it at your face and I panicked!" Clay says, feeling bad for smacking George's hands. He grabs them and looks into George's eyes. "Are you ok?"

George pulls his hands away from Clay and looks at the wall. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Jude groans. "Clay! It's happening again!" He messes with a switch on his earpiece. "I'm getting another signal."

"Ok, hang on. I'm going to broadcast it off the computer," Clay says as he logs in to one of the computers. "Everyone stay quiet."

The room becomes silent as voices begin coming out of the computer.

"Target in sight. He's walking into the coffee shop," a young voice says.

"Alright, perfect," another one says. "Keep watching him and keep your distance."

"Who are they?" George asks.

Jude shrugs. "I have no idea. My earpiece is busted, so my signal keeps mixing with other team's signals. That's why you heard me that one day. But this team that I keep getting access to is odd. They are after someone, but I don't think they have the best intentions."

Dylan and Geo both walk into the room, laughing. As soon as they notice everyone's silence, they both freeze to keep from making any noise.

"Ambxon, keep on him. Don't engage, just watch."

"Got it, Avocado. Don't you worry."

Dylan laughs a little. "Seriously? Why are you guys listening to their mission?"

"Do you know these guys?" Clay asks Dylan.

Dylan nods. "Yeah, I had training with them. Agents Ambxon and Avocado Kid aren't exactly the most threatening people in the world."

"Do you know what mission they are on right now?" Jude asks.

"No. I haven't talked to them since we finished training which was, like, a year ago," Dylan explains.

"Ambxon, can you see what he's doing?" Agent Avocado asks.

"Yeah," Agent Ambxon replies, "He's making a phone call."

Just then, Clay's phone rings. He looks around the room, everyone just as freaked out as he was. He picks it up and answers it with a quiet, "Hello?"

"Clay, it's me," Wilbur says through the phone. "I really need to talk to you. About us."

Clay carefully sighs. "Wilbur, there is no 'us'."

"I know, I know. You keep reminding me of that," Wilbur says. "But I'm never going to stop until you see that I love you."

"I'm sorry, Wilbur. You deserve to find someone that can make you feel just as loved as you make them feel. I'm not that person for you." Clay felt really awkward having this conversation in front of everyone, especially George.

"This is because of George, isn't it?" Wilbur mumbles.

Clay hesitates, looking at George for a second, then responds with, "No, this isn't about him. We didn't really work out anyway."

Though they couldn't see Wilbur, they knew he was crying based on his staggered breathing and small sniffles. "Ok. I understand. Thanks for answering my call. I'll see you next game night."

As soon as the phone call ended, Ambxon asks, "Sprite, did you get that?"

"I got it all!" She responds. "Stay in the area just in case something else happens. Thundah?"

"Present!" Thundah responds with a bit too much excitement in her voice. "What's up?"

"Is Cat with you? He's not responding to any of my messages," Sprite says, sounding irritated.

"Sorry, I'm here!" Cat responds. "Just got a little sidetracked with.....something."

"Dude, we get it," Avocado says. "Yes, the target is hot. Now please do your job and chill until our leader gives the green light. Got it?"

Cat groans. "Fine! I'll chill. But just so we are clear, I'm going to make him mine. One way or another."

"SHIT!" Thundah yells. "Someone else is on our channel!"

"WHAT?!" Avocado yells. After a few seconds of typing, the kid comes back and says, "Everyone jump channels! Over and out!"

Then, everything goes silent. Everyone seemed confused. Well, everyone, except Dylan. "They're after Wilbur. Aren't they?"

"That would make no sense, though!" Geo points out. "He's not an agent and has no idea that we work here. And the agency doesn't have to go after Clay anymore, so it's not like they are going after him because Wilbur will give them information."

"Well, we can't distract ourselves with Wilbur," Darryl says. "We need to start coming up with a plan to figure out who framed Clay and why."

George's phone begins to ring. He answers it and, before he could say anything, he hears Wilbur's voice on the other end. "Hey, George. It's Wilbur. I know we haven't gotten off in the right foot, but I'd really love to start over with you. Is there any way you can meet me for coffee?"

George looks around the room, hoping that someone would help him, but they all just kind of stared in shock. Wilbur, the one that threatened George, was now asking him out for coffee. If something was going on with Wilbur, now was their chance to find out. "Sure. Just send me the address and I'll meet you there, I guess."

"Thank you, George. I really appreciate this. I'll talk to you later." After they both say their goodbyes and hang up, Wilbur sends George an address to a coffee shop 15 minutes away.

"Alright," Darryl says. "George and I will go. Zak, you're with us as well."

"I don't want to leave!" Zak states.

Darryl rubs his arm. "Clay isn't going to hurt you anymore. It's safe. I promise."

Zak looks from Darryl to Clay, then finally decides, "I'll go."

"I'm going to!" Dylan says. "While you guys do your thing with Wilbur, I'll be figuring out what the other agents' deals are."

"There is no way I'm going on a mission with you," Zak pouts.

Dylan rolls his eyes. "I don't want to do anything with you either, but I trained with those guys. I know what I'm doing."

"Let's get going before you two try to kill each other," Darryl says. "Sound good?"

———

Word Count: 2312

Special thanks to my discord server for George's scooter abilities! Without them, it wouldn't have been nearly as cool as it will be in future chapters. Also, this chapter introduced four OC's that were submitted to my server! If you'd like to join our community and offer suggestions and submit your OC to be in this story or in a future story, click the link below! Thank you everybody!!!

https://discord.gg/G3sBJEz

Published: August 3rd


	17. Chapter 17

Dylan walked into the coffee shop first, quickly spotting two of the agents whose voices he heard earlier. The first one he saw was Agent Cat, who's pastel pink hair made him stand out. He had most of it tucked into a black beanie, but he was still easy to pick out. He was sitting at a table with a girl just a few years younger than him: Agent Thundah. Thundah had her laptop out and was typing something while casually tucking a strand of her short black hair behind her ear. Cat stared at Wilbur, a hot coffee cup in his hands. Dylan knew them quite well, having trained with them. Thundah was the same age as him and had a special maturity to her that came out when she needed to be serious. Cat was older than them, being closer to Nick's age, but lacked the maturity Nick had. If George wanted any shot at safely talking to Wilbur, Dylan would have to find a way to get them out of there. He didn't know why they were after Wilbur, but he wasn't going to let them get in the way.

Dylan smiles as he sits in the empty seat at their table. "Hey, guys! Long time no see!"

"Oh look," Thundah says. "It talks." Cat only scoffed in response, returning his attention to Wilbur.

"I was hoping we could catch up a little bit!" Dylan says, ignoring Thundah.

Cat rolls his eyes. "We've never spoken to each other before and now you want to magically catch up? I don't think so."

"What are you even doing here this early in the morning?" Thundah asks. "It's still dark out."

"I could ask you two the same question," Dylan says, crossing his arms.

"Sorry, guys! I'm back," Agent Sprite says from behind Dylan. She tossed her long, wavy brown hair off of her shoulder when she noticed Dylan. She was also the same age as Dylan. Despite his normal hatred towards people, Dylan had to admit that he was impressed that their team only appeared to have one adult in it. They worked quite well together. "What's he doing here?" she asks Thundah.

"He's ruining our mission, that's what," Thundah said sourly.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't realize you were all here on a mission." Dylan looks at Sprite. "It's been a while since I've seen you around."

Sprite smirks. "I haven't seen you since the day you were fired!"

Dylan had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. Because the undercover team was so secretive, Techno publicly "fired" everyone that would make up the team so that no one would question their disappearance. If only they knew that he was specially chosen out of all of the other minors working at Forte. "Too soon, Sprite. Too soon."

"Seriously, Dylan," Cat says. "Why are you talking to us?"

"Because I want to hang out with you guys!" He stands up. "All I want is one hour where we can all just hang out like old times."

"Let's just humor him and go," a kid says, walking up to the table. Their voice was muffled because of the olive green turtleneck sweater covering their mouth. Agent Avocado in the flesh. "We all know he won't stop until he gets what he wants. Besides, Feni said that we have everything we need."

"Feni?" Dylan asks. "Is she here?"

Avocado shakes their head. "Nope. She's managing us from HQ today." Dylan was silently impressed. Feni and Cat were the only two adults he trained with, so it doesn't surprise him that she would be their team's leader. She was also always able to magically calm everyone down, so she was almost like the designated mom of the group. But what impressed Dylan was the fact that she must make a pretty strong leader if she can organize this group of chaotic children into a crime-fighting team. Avocado steps away from the table and gestures towards the door. "Shall we?" Dylan nods and follows him out. On their way out, Cat and Sprite exchange a silent look, knowing exactly what the next step of their plan was.

With the coast clear, George walks into the coffee shop just as the sun rises outside. Even though it was early in the morning, the place was still packed. George looked around and eventually found Wilbur sitting in a booth alone. His curly hair was pressed against his forehead with a black beanie. He was looking down at his phone, sadly reading whatever was on his screen. George squeezes past people and slides into the seat across from him. Wilbur puts his phone down but doesn't look up at George. George waits a few seconds, then decides to start the conversation on his own. "Hey, Wilbur."

Wilbur glances up at George, then quickly looks back down. "Hey."

"You wanted to talk to me, right?" George asks.

Wilbur nods. "Yeah, but I'm honestly about to change my mind."

"Well, I'm here when you're ready to tell me what's up," George says, leaning back into the booth cushion. Wilbur still doesn't budge. After some more waiting, George asks, "Can you at least tell me why you wanted to talk to me of all people? I mean, we aren't exactly on good terms."

"It's because all of my other friends are close to Clay," Wilbur admits. "If I told them something about Clay, they'd turn around and tell him. But when I learned that you and Clay didn't work out, I thought I could at least talk to you about it." He rubs his sweating palms on his shirt. "I did something awful, George. I made a deal with someone, but I don't know if I can go through with it. I'm still in love with Clay. I'd do anything to keep other people away from him. But I'm scared that the deal I made is going to ruin that."

"What sort of deal did you make?" George asks.

Wilbur looks around the coffee shop. "I can't tell you that. Not here. There's this spy agency that I'm pretty sure is after me." He looks down at the table. "Do you want me to order you a coffee or something?"

"Bad here. Say yes."

"Sure, that'd be awesome," George says, listening to Darryl.

Wilbur pulls his wallet out. "Cool. What should I order you?"

George shrugs. "I'll have what you have there," he says, pointing to Wilbur's almost empty cup with whipped cream on the top. Wilbur nods and gets up, making his way towards the barista.

"It's Bad. When he comes back, you need to ask him for more details on this deal that he made."

George nods. "Understood."

"Wait, isn't that the guy that they saw at the bowling alley?" George hears Zak ask.

"Oh boy," is the only thing Darryl manages to get out before George hears the cafe door open. He looks behind him and sees Illumina walk in. Had it not been for the last time George saw him, Illumina wouldn't have been intimidating. But the fact that Clay's friends had to hold him back when they saw him only shows that he was not someone to be messed with. George watches him as he approaches Wilbur, who was still waiting for George's drink.

"Hi," Illumina says in a low voice. Wilbur jumps forward, looking behind him, terrified for his life. "I'm here for my money."

"I-I told you, I don't have your money," Wilbur stutters. "Please, give me more time and I can pay you back."

"I told you I wanted it today," Illumina says. The way he spoke scared George. His words were full of aggression, but his face was as unreadable as ever.

Wilbur backed up into the counter and Illumina walked closer to him. "Please, I just need more time. I'll get you your money. I swear." Sensing that something was going to happen, George gets up and pushes through the crowd forming around the two.

Illumina shakes his head. "Wrong answer, Wilbur. Wrong answer." He grabs Wilbur's shirt and winds his fist back, ready to punch him. He swings his fist down, but instead of colliding with Wilbur's face, George catches his fist in his hand, just like Nick had taught him to. The impact stung his palm, but he didn't show it on his face. Illumina pulls his fist out of George's hand and smiles. "Ah, George. I wouldn't have expected to see you hanging around with this idiot."

"You need to leave," George says sternly, "right now."

Illumina looks at Wilbur. "You have 48 hours. Either do the job or give me my money back. You're not getting out of this." Illumina looks at George. "And if I were you, I'd quit poking my nose where it doesn't belong." With that, he exits the shop, leaving everyone inside confused and worried.

Wilbur was frozen, looking at George. "Thanks."

George winks. "We wouldn't want anyone hurting your pretty face." His statement makes Wilbur laugh.

"Skeppy to 404. Honey trap him. Get information. He's vulnerable and you made him laugh. You can do it!"

George's smile falls a little bit. How the hell was he supposed to seduce Wilbur? Clay was one thing because George was already attracted to him. Wilbur was a whole new ballpark. George takes a breath to calm his nerves as he reaches for Wilbur's hand. "We should go sit and calm down."

"Seriously, 404? That's your opening line?" Jude asks through the earpiece. "Put a little more into it!"

Wilbur awkwardly laces his fingers with George's. "Uh, yeah. Let's sit down I guess." George pulls him back to their booth and they take their original seats.

"Oh my god, seriously?" Jude asks. "You should've sat next to him!" George starts to get up to move next to Wilbur, but then Jude yells, "NO DON'T MOVE! THAT'S EVEN WORSE!" George slowly sits back down.

"Are you alright?" Wilbur asks.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. You just make me nervous, I guess."

Wilbur cracks a half-smile. "Right, ok."

"So, can you tell me more about Illumina?" George asks.

As Wilbur stutters out some excuse as to why he can't talk about it, he hears a new voice over his earpiece. "Ok, George. This is Strawberry. I'm going to walk you through this. Look him in the eyes." George raises his eyes to Wilbur's. "Ok great. Now, I need you to slowly trail your eyes down to his lips."

"What are you doing?" Wilbur laughs.

George's eyes bounce back to Wilbur. "Just listening to you talk. I love the sound of your voice."

Wilbur leans in and whispers, "Dude, you're acting really strange." Without thinking, George leans in to kiss him. Wilbur sits back up and pushes him away before their lips touched. "Woah, ok. This is too weird for me. I got to go. I'll call you later." Wilbur grabs his coffee cup and fast walks out of the cafe.

"404? What the actual fuck did you think you were doing?" Jude asks. "Strawberry was walking you through what you needed to do!"

"Finn, I don't know what I'm doing!" George whispers, attempting to not draw any attention to himself. "He's not Clay, Jude. We have no chemistry."

"If you're going to be a honey trap, you need to learn how to make chemistry, because I wouldn't be surprised if Wilbur never speaks to you again!"

George groans as he places his face in his hands embarrassed that he lost Wilbur so fast. He could go 30 seconds doing his job without scaring him away.

"Bad to 404, don't feel down. You're new to this. You'll learn. It's ok. Come out to the van and we will get back to the offices. Hopefully, Dylan will have some information for us." George slides out of the booth and returns to the van. Zak opens the back door and he climbs inside.

"So, where's Dylan?" George asks.

"We don't know. He hasn't gotten back to us, so we messaged him. Hopefully, we will get a response soon," Darryl says. Just then, his phone chimes as he gets a text back from Dylan.

**Dylan**

Hey man! I'll text you later. I'm just hanging out with my friends for the day. Ttyl

Darryl smiles. "Alright, I guess we should get going." As they drove back towards the office building, George felt guilty for losing Wilbur. If he had just done what he was told, he would've been fine. But he read the situation wrong and went in for a kiss. George had no idea how to be a honey trap now that he was trapping someone he didn't like.

When they walked back into the tech lab where they left everyone, Clay looked mad. He wore a scowl on his face and he didn't look like he was in the mood to talk to anyone. Jude and Strawberry also both looked irritated, but not full-blown mad like Clay.

"Where's Dylan?" Clay asks.

"He stayed back with his friends," Darryl explains.

Clay scoffs. "Dylan doesn't have any friends besides us."

"Well, maybe you don't know him as well as you thought," Darryl suggests.

Clay crosses his arms. "We share a home. I know him pretty well."

"Oh!" Darryl says happily, "speaking of home...Zak? Pack your things. I'm taking you back to your place today!"

Zak laughs. "That's not necessary, Darryl."

Darryl shushes him. "You promised me that you'd move out once Clay wasn't after you anymore. He's on our team, so now you can go home!"

Zak thinks for a minute, then nods. "Alright, fine. But you have to help me move."

Darryl nods. "That's fine!" Darryl grabs Zak and heads for the door. "Call us if you need anything!"

Vincent waves. "Will do!" As soon as they leave, he laughs. "I know they are just friends, but if they tell us one day that they have been married for five years already, I wouldn't be surprised."

Jake nods. "I support it."

Zak felt overwhelmed walking into his home again. Everything was right where he left it. He finally felt relaxed and at home. He and Darryl it's his few bags onto the love seat while Zak takes a running start and jumps onto his couch. He sprawls out and sighs. "I missed this place."

"I missed it too!" Darryl says. "We have to have another pizza night this Friday!"

"Definitely!" Zak closes his eyes. "Hey, Darryl? I'm taking the day off." He takes his earpiece out of his ear and tosses it onto the coffee table. "You guys have Clay, so you don't need me today."

Darryl smiles. "I understand. I'll leave you to it!" He walks out the front door, shouting goodbye to Zak before the door closes.

When Darryl got back to the offices, he found everyone sitting with worried expressions. Clay was pacing around the floor. "What's going on?" Darryl asks.

"Clay is worried about Dylan," George responds.

"He has never in his life sent the acronym 'ttyl'. He'd rather die than use expressions like that!" Clay shouts.

"I think you're overreacting," Geo says. "He's spending time with other teenagers so I'm sure he's picking up the way they talk."

Clay shakes his head. "Why isn't any of this bothering you, Geo? When has Dylan ever wanted to hang out with them? He hates those guys!"

Jude takes his earpiece out and throws it at Clay. "I hear them talking again! I fucking hate this busted-ass earpiece!"

"Language!" Darryl shouts.

"If Clay would fix it, I wouldn't have to swear!" Jude yells. "SO FIX IT!"

Clay groans. "Alright, chill! I'll fix it." He plugs it into the computer and logs into his profile. The program he had used earlier was still running, so they could hear everything going on while Clay tried to fix it.

"This is Sprite. He's in custody."

"Cat to Sprite, hold tight, I'm on my way. Feni? Any words of wisdom?"

"Feni here. My wisdom is to handle him with care. He may not talk, but he had one hell of a bite. Thundah?"

"Present!"

"Take Avocado to pick up the package and meet us at our spot. Feni out."

"Copy that! Thundah out."

"This is Avocado kid. Don't worry about the package. He won't get away so easily this time. Over and out."

"What the hell?" Jake whispers. "Did they get Wilbur or something?" His phone then goes off with a message from Dylan.

**Dylan**

Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew

Pew

Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew

Peeeeew

Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew

Pew

Peeeeeeeeeeew

"Um, Clay?" Jake says quietly. "I think you're right. Dylan just sent me a coded message and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't just to say hi."

He hands his phone to Clay. Clay reads it once, then mumbles, "Oh shit."

———

Word Count: 2809

Don't forget to join my discord server where you can talk to some pretty awesome people! I'm currently taking OC submissions, so if you would like your OC to be possibly featured in this story or in a future story, join the server! I will post the link below as well as in my comments!

<3 App1es

https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Published: August 4th


	18. Chapter 18

"WHAT DOES THIS CODE MEAN?!" Geo screams as everyone scrambles to figure out Dylan's message. "WHY WOULD HE SEND US SOMETHING THAT ISN'T IN A NORMAL CODE?!?!"

"Calm down, Geo," Darryl says. "We will figure this out. I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation as to why he sent us his message."

"Why did he choose the word 'pew'?" George asks.

Clay copy and pastes the message into a program on his computer to crack the code. "It's a stupid inside joke we all have. He was trying to discreetly tell us that someone got shot while we were on a mission. Instead of saying that they were shot, he said that they got 'pew pewed'. We laughed for hours over it, but I don't know why he'd try to give us a message using it." He bangs his fist on the desk when the program found nothing to decode. "SHIT!"

"Do you want me to look at it?" Vincent asks.

Jake shakes his head. "You don't do codes."

Vincent crosses his arms. "So? You don't seem to be getting anywhere with it!" He looks over Jake's shoulder. "Have you tried counting the 'E's'?"

"Counting the 'E's'?" Geo asks.

"Yeah. Maybe they mean something," Vincent suggests.

"Jake, how many 'E's' are in each word?" Clay asks.

Jake responds with, "19, 1, 22, 5, 26, 1, 11."

Clay writes down the numbers, then screams, "ITS LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET! JESUS WE ARE IDIOTS!" He writes down the numbers and counts on his fingers as he hums his ABC's. By the time he gets to the end of the code, he finds its meaning.

Save Zak

Darryl begins to panic when he sees the message. "He took his earpiece out! He won't be able to hear us warn him!"

"So what do we do?" Geo asks. "Dylan is missing and Zak is in danger. How are we going to do this?"

"I'll go help Zak," Nick decides. "Darryl and Vincent will come with me. If this turns into a fight, then the field agents need to be there."

"You two aren't the only field agents," Geo says. "Jake and I are handy with a gun."

"No, they're right," Jude decides. "Think about it. Zak is more likely to stay calm if his teammates go after him. And we need to somehow track Dylan down if we want to find him, so it'd be best for the rest of us to work on finding him." After everyone agrees, Nick and Darryl take off to try and get to Zak before it's too late.

A small bump from the kitchen was enough to wake Zak up. He rubs his eyes and yawns as he sits up. He looks into the kitchen. "Darryl? Is that you?" He stands up when he doesn't get a response. Zak stretches out his back and walks towards the kitchen. Everything looked perfectly fine. Nothing was messed with and everything was calm. He started to walk away but noticed something out of the corner of his eye. One of the knives was missing from his knife block. He then heard running footsteps behind him. He turns around and knocks the knife out of a kid's hand, then pins him against the kitchen island. The kid was in some sort of green turtleneck that muffled their grunts as they tried to get free.

"What the fuck?" Zak asks. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he sees a girl with short black hair move towards him. He pulls the kid up and places them in between him and the girl. "Look, I don't know who you are, but you both need to leave before I call the cops." He squints his eyes. "Wait, Brooklyn? What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry Skeppy, I'm only doing my job. And it's not Brooklyn. It's Thundah." She charges at them, but Zak pushes the kid in front of him towards her. Thundah barely manages to avoid stabbing the sweater kid.

"Brooklyn, I don't know what you're doing, but it needs to end," he says, backing up towards the hallway. If he could at least manage to make it to his bedroom, he could grab his gun he had stashed away in his end table. He really wouldn't want to shoot the same kids he taught not long ago, but they were starting to give him no choice. "Look, Brooklyn, and uh- Avery, right?" He asks agent Avocado. "I don't know what is going on, but I'm not the bad guy, ok?"

"You know, for an agent," Avocado says, "you talk too much." Avocado slides across the floor and grabs the knife they stole from the woodblock. Thundah charges at Zak as he dashes into his room, slamming the door behind him.

As he holds it closed, he says, "Skeppy to team. I'm being attacked by children!" He waits a moment. "GUYS?!" He then remembers he took his earpiece out already. He feels the two pounding on his door as his eyes dart to his end table. It was too far away. If he let go of the door now, the two kids would get him before he made it to his gun. Right by his door was his closet, so he decided to reach for his clothes and hope that he could find a wire hanger. He slid across his door and was barely able to reach a shirt sticking out of the side. Zak pulls it as hard as he can, making it fall off of the bar holding it up. He tosses the shirt onto the bed and bends the hanger so that he could easily hold it. He really didn't want to hurt two of the kids he mentored, but they weren't giving him much of a choice.

That's when he realized that the pounding stopped. He put his ear against the door to try and listen for the two but heard nothing. He takes a few breaths, then opens his door, ready to fight. But the kids were gone. Seeing this new opportunity, Zak sprints to his end table, tripping over his metal bed frame as he goes. He digs around in the drawer, then pulls out the silver pistol that Darryl had taught him how to shoot. Zak never had to rely on anything but his smarts before, so he was nervous to be stuck in a fight. He decided that he'd get out of the house and try to avoid any fighting.

Zak quietly walks down the hallway, holding the gun against his chest which was rapidly rising and falling. He tried to take a moment to calm himself down, but it was interrupted when he heard Thundah giggle.

"Avocado! Watch this!" Thundah laughed. Her laugh was followed by a loud blowing sound as well as a red light. Zak couldn't see her, but he knew that she had found a way to play with fire. "Why does he even have a can of hairspray anyway?" Thundah asks.

"Have you seen his hair?" Avocado asks. "That thing has a mind of its own."

Zak slides his finger onto the trigger and prepares to make a break for the door, but he was quickly stopped when Avocado hit him in the face with a pan when he left the safety of the hallway. He falls back, hitting the wall behind him with the back of his head. Everything around him became blurry as he felt blood fall from his nose. He shakily raised his gun to shoot in front of him, but Avocado smacks it out of his hand. He leans back against the wall, feeling dizzy as he dances in and out of consciousness. Before he fell out cold, Avocado scoffs, "Too easy."

Darryl rushes to the front door, quickly finding Zak's house key on his key ring. Nick was behind him, readying his gun. Darryl opens the door and lets Nick in first. He scans the room, then signals to Darryl that it's clear. Darryl pulls his own gun out and follows him into the kitchen. They both stop when they see two kids in the kitchen, leaning over one of their phones.

Nick points his gun at them. "Who are you?"

Both kids pull out their badges and flash it at them before promptly putting then away. "We are agents with Forte in the minor division," Thundah answers. "We were in the area when agent Skeppy gave out a distress signal. We came as fast as we could, but there was no sign of him."

"Do you mind if we look around?" Darryl asks.

Avocado nods. "Feel free to look around. We haven't found anything yet. We are currently awaiting instructions from our team leader."

"WAIT!" Thundah yells. "Are you Badboyhalo?" she asks Darryl with big, shiny eyes.

Darryl laughs a little. "Uh, yeah. That's me."

"I am a HUGE fan of your work!" Thundah says.

"Thanks, but we should really be figuring out where agent Skeppy is," Darryl says.

"Just call me a muffin!" Thundah begs. "Please! That's all I want!"

Nick stops his search and laughs. "Bad, just call her a muffin. It's not every day you meet your biggest fan."

"Ok, fine. But after that, no more talking, ok?"

Thundah nods. "I promise!"

Darryl forces a smile. "You're a good muffin! Is that all I need to say?"

"Tell Skeppy we said 'hi'," Avocado says behind Nick. They turn around to find that the kid had a syringe in their hand. Avocado shoves it into Nick's neck, making him stagger a few steps before falling over. Avocado then shoots a dart at Darryl, hitting him in his arm. His whole body goes numb, so he leans onto the wall as he desperately calls for help. "This is BBH. Two agents down. Send backup!" Whatever they shot him with only made him weak, unlike Nick, who was down for the count. The two kids high five as they drag Darryl into Zak's room where he was tied to a chair and unconscious still. Connected to the back of his chair was another chair, set up specially for Darryl.

After some struggling, the two manage to hoist Darryl onto the chair and restrain him with zip ties that they had with their gear. Darryl couldn't fight back, he could only watch as the two kids removed his earpiece. The two kids fist-bumped and exited the room. Before closing the door behind her, Thundah gets on her earpiece and says, "Thundah to Feni. The package is secure and we got his two friends too. Send the guys to pick them up!" Thundah then looks at Darryl. "You know, you really were my idol. I'm sorry it had to end this way."

As soon as the door was closed, Darryl used all of his strength to shake the chairs to wake up Zak. "Zak, please wake up," Darryl pleads. "We need to get out of this." He moves his hands and finds Zak's. He laces their fingers together and squeezes. "Zak, come on. I need you!" Still, no response from Zak. He groans, then pinches the inside of Zak's palm, jolting him awake.

"Ow! What the fuck?!" He yells.

"Language!" Darryl whispers. "Zak, It's me. Stay quiet. We need to get out of here."

"Call back up," Zak says as he starts to gag.

"Dude, please don't vomit. Please. I'm begging," Darryl says.

Zak's gags turn into coughing. "Those gremlins hit me in the face with a frying pan. I think I'm allowed to gag, Darryl."

"I think they tranquilized me or something," Darryl says. "It's really hard to move."

Zak sighs. "Well, shit. Where's everyone else?"

"They all went to look for Dylan," Darryl says. "But Nick is in the living room. The one in green injected him with something."

"Deadly?" Zak asks.

Darryl shrugs. "I don't know. How did we get outsmarted by kids?"

Zak lets out a breathy laugh. "I don't know. All I know is Nick may be dead, I have a concussion, you can barely move, and no one is coming for us."

"Wait, I have an idea!" Darryl says. "What did they tie you down with?"

"Zip-ties. You?"

"Same." Darryl forces himself to sit up in his chair and he leans slightly forward, pulling Zak against his chair. "Can you get to my pants?"

Zak makes a disgusted face, causing some of the dried blood under his nose crust off. "Why would I need to reach your pants?"

"In training, we were told to always carry a way out of restraints," Darryl explains. "I've got a hook that we can use to get out, but I can't get to it. I need you to get it."

"And it's in your pants?" Zak asks.

Darryl nods. "There's a pocket on the inside of my pants, right against my underwear. If you can get to it, we can get free."

"I'm not putting my hand in your pants, dude," Zak says. "My head is pounding and this is making it worse."

"Just grab it!" Darryl demands.

"I will NOT!" Zak says, loudly.

"Just get it!"

"I'm not sticking my hand down your pants!"

"It's on the waistband of my pants! You don't even have to go far in!"

"IM NOT TOUCHING YOUR ASS, DARRYL!"

"LANGUAGE!" Darryl yells back. The two fall silent. "Look, we don't have a choice. It's either this, or we stay captured."

Zak painfully groans. "Fine. Hold still. I'm going in."

———

Word Count: 2255

Don't forget to join my discord server where you can talk to some pretty awesome people! I'm currently taking OC submissions, so if you would like your OC to be possibly featured in this story or in a future story, join the server!!

<3 App1es

https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Published: August 5th


	19. Chapter 19

Dylan glares at the door to the empty room he was left in. The only thing in the dark room was the chair that he had been duct-taped to. He found it funny that his captors insisted on taping his mouth closed. It's not like they were going to get him to talk anyway. He wasn't surprised that he was abducted. What did surprise him was how fast those agents were when taking him down. They not only knew that he was an undercover agent, but they knew how to perfectly restrain him.

When Dylan approached the agents he knew in the coffee shop, he failed to realize that Ambxon was missing from the group. That should've been the first sign that something was wrong. Then, there was the fact that Feni told them their mission was done when it looked like they hadn't gotten much done. When they left the shop, the agents jumped him. Dylan was a skilled fighter, but not skilled enough to take on four people his size without a weapon. After he was restrained, they took everything, including his phone and his badge.

The door opens and a woman walks in, holding Dylan's phone in one hand and a controller of some sort in the other. In front of him was Feni, the leader of the team that jumped him. She wasn't intimidating at all. Her long dark hair was pulled into a ponytail and her lips curled into a gentle smile. Dylan wanted to laugh. He knew that she was coming in to get information out of him, but she wasn't intimidating at all. Behind her, Ambxon walks in, looking uncharacteristically nervous. Feni sticks the controller in her back pocket and rips the duct tape off of Dylan's mouth.

"So," she starts. "You're agent Mega, huh?" Dylan doesn't respond, keeping his eyes locked onto her. "Oh, come on Dylan. Do you really think we don't know you're a spy? Why else would you be at the coffee shop that early in the morning?" Dylan continues to stay silent. Feni sighs as she shows the latest text message sent from Dylan's phone. It was just a coded message. And Dylan wasn't the one who sent it. "What is this message about?"

"I didn't send it," Dylan says.

"You had to have been the one to send it, it's your phone."

Dylan scoffs. "Really? Why would I lie to you about that?"

"Because you were trained to!" Feni opens the door as a black snake slithers in. It was a meter long and had some sort of device attached to it. Feni pulled the controller out of her back pocket and hit a button, making the snake move forward. Whatever she was doing, she was somehow controlling the snake's movement.

Dylan begins to panic. "Feni, why the fuck is there a snake in here?!"

"Every team has their own method of interrogation. This is ours." She gestures to the snake. "This is Crowley and he is going to help me. So, I'll ask again. What does the message mean?"

Dylan flinches when he feels the snake crawl over his shoes. "I don't know, Feni."

Feni hits another button, making the snake go up Dylan's leg. "What code did you use?"

Dylan bares his teeth. "I didn't send a fucking code!"

"WHAT WAS THE MESSAGE?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Dylan screams as the snake gets closer to his lap. "I swear, Feni. That wasn't me. Now PLEASE take this DAMN SNAKE OFF OF ME!"

Feni giggles. "Why? This is fun!"

Cat bursts into the room. "We've got a situation, Feni. They're coming."

"What?" Feni asks.

"Dylan's team is coming, 404 and A6D are with them. They were able to track his phone here," Cat explains. "I heard it all through Dylan's earpiece."

"Shit! Ok. Let's pack up and get ready to move," Feni says. "Cat, you stay with me. Amb, stay here, and watch Dylan. Don't fuck it up this time!" She smacks the back of his head. No one noticed that she knocked his earpiece out.

Amb nods. "Got it, Feni."

As soon as Cat and Feni left with the snake, Dylan asks, "Where were you earlier?"

"What?" Amb asks.

"Why weren't you at the cafe?" Dylan asks.

"Why should I tell you?" Amb asks.

"You sent the text, didn't you?" Dylan asks.

"I'm not going to let you interrogate me!" Amb yells. "You're the captive! Not me!"

"So it was you!" Dylan says.

"What makes you so sure?" Ambxon asks.

"Easy! You get flustered when you lie. I think you forgot we trained together," Dylan says. "So why did you do it?"

Amb shakes his head. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me!" Dylan teases.

Amb sighs. "There's people going after agent Skeppy. He was our teacher. I couldn't just let him die. Too many people have died."

"Wait, What do you mean by 'too many'?" Dylan asks.

Amb shakes his head and goes to the door, mumbling, "I can't do this," before closing the door behind him.

Dylan scooted the chair over to the earpiece in the ground and tilted the chair to make him fall onto his side. He adjusts his head to a position that allows him to listen to the team talking.

"How much longer until back-up gets here?" Avocado asks.

"Not long," Sprite says. "Just hang in there."

"Ok good," Avocado responds. "These three were so much easier to take out than Mumbo Jumbo. Especially agent Sapnap. One dose of Skeppy's drunk stuff and he was out!"

"Wait, you made him drunk?" Sprite asks.

"Yeah, we weren't expecting two guys to come in, so we used the tranquilizer on Badboyhalo and used the other stuff on Nick."

Sprite groans. "You idiot! You really think you can handle a drunk dude right now?!"

"We didn't have much of a choice, Sprite!" Avocado yells.

"That doesn't mean you make him feel drunk! How could you mess up so horribly?!"

"SAYS THE ONE THAT SHOT PURPLED!" Avocado screams.

"He was trying to warn Dream. I'd do it all over again if I could! He was an awful teammate anyway," Sprite says.

Dylan felt himself shiver. They were the ones who killed the two agents. He couldn't figure out why a team of young Forte agents would take out two other agents. And why were they going after Dream when George's team was already assigned to that case? The more he thought about it, the more confused he felt.

Feni walks in as she says, "Alright, we need to talk." She stops when she sees Dylan on the floor with the earpiece in. "You just made a big mistake!"

"DRIVE FASTER!" Geo yells at Jake. "We need to get there before they move!"

"I'm already pushing the van's limits!" Geo says.

"Alright, we need a plan," Clay says. "This house they have him in is small. You guys can cover the doors while Jake and I go in. Jude, take the back door while Vincent takes the front. I'll have Geo on the side watching this window right here just in case they try to escape."

"What about me?" George asks. "Where can I help?"

"Can you shoot a gun?" Clay asks.

"No," George responds, "but Nick taught me how to throw a proper punch!"

Clay shakes his head. "Fists are no match for knives and guns. You get to stay in the van."

"I'm not staying in the fucking van, Clay!" George says. "I want to help!"

"You can help by staying in the van!" Clay says.

"I'm going with you!" George states.

"I'M NOT LOSING YOU, GEORGE!" Clay yells. He exhales out of his nose. "You're staying here."

George crosses his arms and falls back into his seat, offended that he couldn't help at all. George then heard giggles through his earpiece, followed by Nick whispering, "Heeeeeeey Georgie! HA! I sounded like Pennywise."

"Nick?" George asks.

"Hehehehe yes!" Nick says.

"Are you feeling ok?" George asks.

"Oh, I feel great, man! Sooooo great!"

"Are you drunk?" George asks.

"I have absolutely no idea! But I feel GREAT!"

George looks up at everyone in the van. "Do you guys hear Nick right now?"

"I'm only talking to you!" Nick responds for them. "You're my bestest friend."

"What's going on?" Vincent asks.

"I think Nick is drunk," George replies. He hands his earpiece to Clay. "Can you put this on the speakers or something?" Clay nods and plugs the earpiece into his computer, allowing the whole van to hear.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you!" Nick giggles. "Darryl tried to send out an s.o.s. But it only went to meeeeee. Cause I'm better than youuuuuu."

"Does Darryl need back-up?" George asks, feeling his heart pound.

"You should ask him! I don't know!"

"Is he with you?" George asks.

"Nope! He's in the bedroom with Zak. I think they like each other."

"Nick! Focus!" George demands. "What's going on?!"

"Zak and Darryl and all tied up because they live each other in that special way!"

George groans. "Nick, you make no sense!"

"Agent 404," a young voice says. "This is Agent Avocado. If you want to survive until tomorrow, I suggest that you stop whatever mission you are on. We already have four of your friends. We have proven that we are more than ready to kill the rest of you. Go home. You're not ready to be an agent."

"Listen here, kid," Clay says. "I don't know who the hell you are, but I hope you realize that you're starting a war that you won't be able to finish. Who sent you?" The line then cuts out, signaling that Avocado shut off the earpiece.

Geo pulls up to the house that Dylan's phone sent them to. It looked like a crack house that hadn't been lived in for decades. The paint was peeling and the wood was old and worn out. "Ok, let's go get Dylan and then save the others," Geo says. "We don't have time for this." Everyone except George jumps out of the car and begins following Clay's plan. Clay and Jake both rush in, guns drawn and ready.

Clay was finding it hard to get over the awful stench in the home. It smelt like mold and vomit. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he silently led Jake down the hallway. They both listened for any movement but heard nothing. They then decided to open the doors in the hall. The first two led to empty rooms, but the second one opened up to the room Dylan was in.

He was duct-taped to the chair still, but he was now badly beaten. He had bruising across half of his face with tear stains down his eyes. One of his fingers on his left hand was bent back farther than a finger should ever be able to bend and he had blood coming out of a small cut on his neck. He was breathing heavily and whimpering, but it was muffled by the duct tape that was out back over his mouth. It broke Clay's heart to see him so hurt. He drops his gun and carefully peels the duct tape off of his mouth.

Dylan gasps for air. "They ran. They heard you were coming, best me, and then ran."

"Who did this?" Clay asks as he cuts Dylan free with his pocket knife.

"Those stupid teens I trained with," he explains. "I guess they've been watching us a while because one of them sent you a code using our joke." As soon as he was free, he held his hurt finger in his good hand. "I'm going to break every fucking bone in their bodies if I see them again." He then gasps. "SKEPPY! THEY WENT TO GET SKEPPY!"

"How many of then are there?" Clay asks.

"I only know of six of them, but there may be more," Dylan says. "We need to go!" He stands up and whimpers. "Man, they did a number on me, didn't they?"

"We'll get you fixed up in the van," Jake says, grabbing his arm to help stabilize him. "Let's get out of here."

———

Word Count: 2035

Don't forget to join my discord server where you can talk to some pretty awesome people! I'm currently taking OC submissions, so if you would like your OC to be possibly featured in this story or in a future story, join the server!

<3 App1es

https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Published: August 5th


	20. Chapter 20

"Why are your hands so cold?!" Darryl asks as Zak tries to find the hook in Darryl's pants.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but aren't you the one that told me to shove my hand down your pants?!" Zak asks. He gasps with excitement as he says, "I got it!" Zak pulls the hook out of Darryl's pants, but loses his grip and drops the hook in between their chairs. Zak mumbles a swear under his breath, just quiet enough for Darryl not to hear.

"Hey, it's ok. We'll think of something," Darryl says, looking around the room. "Any ideas?"

"My head hurts too much to think," Zak responds.

After a few moments of silence, Darryl whispers, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Zak asks. "You didn't do anything."

"I'm sorry for never being there," Darryl replies. "I should've stayed here today to make sure it was safe, just like I should've stayed with you that night that this place was broken into."

Zak shakes his head. "Darryl, you can't blame yourself for everything, especially that night. We weren't exactly on great terms at the time."

"Just because we broke up doesn't mean I didn't still care about you, Zak," Darryl states softly. "You were the best thing to happen to me. Even if we never became anything more than friends, you would still be the most important person in my life."

Zak bites his bottom lip to hold back his smile, even though Darryl couldn't see. "Oh shut up."

"I'm serious, you muffin!" Darryl says. "I told you that when you said you needed time for yourself for a while." He moves his tied hands around and finds Zak's, then carefully intertwines their fingers together. "I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes. I promise."

Zak closes his eyes. "Thank you, Darryl." He looks down and sees the hook not too far away from his sneaker. "Hey! I may be able to get the hook!" He moves his foot over to it and runs the rubber sole against it until the hook gets stuck on his shoe. Zak then twists his arms and pulls his shoe up, doing everything he could to pull the hook out. After a second of staying in a painful position, he manages to grab the hook.

Zak holds it tightly between his fingers. This hook had blades on it, allowing agents to slide it into restraints and pull up, cutting whatever they were stuck in. While this sort of hook was best used to get out of duct tape, it'd still do the trick for zip-ties.

"Alright, you're going to have to cut yourself free first," Darryl instructs. "Let the hook slide down your wrist and push it into your restraints.

Zak carefully slides the hook into the zip-tie, then turns it so that the blade is caught on the plastic. He then pulls up, and the zip-tie breaks with a small popping sound. Zak quickly stands up but stumbles forward from a lack of balance. He leans on his bed as he groans, "They really messed me up. I can't even walk properly."

"Get me out of my ties and I'll help you," Darryl says. Zak pushes himself up and slowly walks back towards the chairs. He leans on the one he was stuck on and carefully slides the hook into Darryl's zip-ties, pulling up and popping his ties off. Darryl rubs his left wrists with his right hand, noticing that the tie left a ring around it.

Zak takes Darryl's wrists in his hands. "Are you going to be ok?"

Darryl nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. It just hurts a little bit." He looks up, noticing how close their two faces were to each other. He blushes and looks away. "I guess we should try to find some weapons, huh?"

Zak grabs his hands and squeezes them. "Only if you help me walk."

"What do you want me to do?" Darryl playfully asks. "Carry you around bridal-style?"

Zak shrugs. "I mean, I wouldn't stop you."

"You know, when we get out of here, you should come live with me!" Darryl suggests. "I've got a spare room with your name on it."

Zak shakes his head. "I can't be your roommate."

"Why not?" Darryl asks, his eyes drooping with sadness.

"Isn't it a thing that you're not allowed to date your roommates or something?" Zak jokes, earning a giggle out of Darryl.

Darryl playfully smacks his arm. "Alright, let's look around."

Zak nods, forcing himself to stand up. He was ready to find a way out, but he'd be lying if he said that part of him didn't enjoy the moment they shared.

"Those fuckers took me outside and led me around the side of the building," Dylan explains as Clay uses a pen and duct tape to splint his finger. "We had agreed to spend some time at that park that's right behind the shop. Before we made it there, Ambxon pulled up in the van and Avocado injected me with this stuff that made me feel weak. I couldn't fight back, even if I wanted to." He winces when Clay pulls the tape too tight. "Dude, be gentle!"

"Who did all this to you?" Jude asks.

"It was their leader, Feni. She's sweet, but she's ruthless." He closes his eyes. "And she had her stupid snake with her. I fucking hate snakes."

"She had a snake?" George asks. "Do you understand how ridiculous that sounds?"

"It's just as ridiculous as Skeppy using music to torture people into giving information," Dylan says.

Vincent shakes his head. "It's really not. Those two things are on completely different levels."

"FUCK!" Dylan shouts, yanking his hand away from Clay. "Do you even KNOW how to splint a broken finger?!"

"NO!" Clay yells back. "The only person here who knows how is Vincent and you threatened to BITE him if he touched you!"

Dylan glares at Vincent. "And I still will."

"Why did they hurt you like this anyway?" Jude asks.

"I learned something that I wasn't supposed to know." Dylan takes a deep breath. "They are responsible for killing both Agent Purpled and Agent Mumbo."

"Why would they kill other agents?" Jake asks.

"Purpled was on their team. They were there the night George's team arrested Dream. I don't know why they were there, but whatever it was had something to do with Dream. Purpled was going to try and warn him of their plan and Sprite shot him to stop him." He stares at a spot on the ground. "She didn't even care. She just pulled the trigger on a teammate. I don't think I'd ever be able to do that."

Clay nods. "I wouldn't be able to either." He let's go of Dylan's hand. "It's fine for now, but I'm taking you to the hospital as soon as we finish up."

"I hate hospitals," Geo states. "Something bad always happens at hospitals. Someone is always dying."

"When you say it like that, hospitals suck," Vincent agrees.

"Shit, you know what I just realized?" Dylan asks. "I can't drive my bike because it's my left hand that's fucked up! I can't use the clutch! SHIT!"

Geo scoffs. "I love how you are angrier about not being able to drive than you are about not being able to shoot."

"You're left-handed?" George asks.

Dylan nods. "I am. I guess not being able to fire a gun sucks too."

"They had to have known that you needed your left hand that badly. There's no way that they would break your left forefinger just cause," Jake points out.

"Well, they've been following us long enough to know I was an agent as well as one of our inside jokes," Dylan states. "I don't think I want to find out what else they know." Dylan's eyes grow wide. "Shit! They have my badge and my earpiece!"

Clay groans. "When we get back to HQ, I'll reset our earpieces to a new network. I'll also have agent Fundy make you a new one."

"How much longer until we get there?" George asks Geo.

"Uh....two minutes. Everyone get ready!"

Clay looks at George. "Don't get too excited, you're staying here with Dylan."

"I want to help!" George yells. "My best friend is in there along with two people from my team! I can't just stay here!"

Clay loudly sighs. "George, you have no idea what you're doing. I will let you do these things after I give you a lesson on guns and knives."

George rolls his eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but Clay was right. He wouldn't be much help in there anyway. George nervously looks out the window, hoping that everyone would make it out ok. They had to be ok. They just had to.

"Just got word from the boss," Thundah says, walking into the room. "The other agents are on their way. They will be here before our backup makes it. We need to leave."

Feni nods, thinks for a moment, then says, "That's fine. We can work with this. Grab the intoxicated one and we will leave the other two."

"What if they try to follow us?" Cat asks. We can't just leave them the way they are, especially since one of them is technologically advanced."

"I'll shoot one of them!" Avocado cheers. "Please, Feni?"

"I want to shoot one of them!" Sprite says. "I'll do it!"

"I'm the youngest! I should get to shoot one of them!" Avocado states.

Sprite scoffs. "Um, I'm the youngest, thank you."

"We are both fourteen," Avocado points out.

"Yeah, but I'm still younger!" Sprite brags.

Avocado crosses their arms. "I'll smother you!"

"I'll kill you before you get the chance, bitch!" Sprite hisses.

"You know what?!" Avocado shouts. "GUT ME, COWARD! I AIN'T AFRAID TO DIE FOR SMOTHERING YOU!"

"ENOUGH!" Feni shouts. "We don't have time for this. Remember what happened last time we didn't complete our mission? If we don't get this done, we will not only lose our jobs but our lives." Feni pulls Thundah's gun from its holster and hands it to Ambxon. "Go shoot one of them and don't mess it up this time."

"Feni, I can't do this," Amb responds, pushing the gun away.

Feni shoves it into Amb's chest. "Take the gun and shoot him! It's bad enough that you sparred Fundy already. I swear to god, if you spare one of them again, I'll take your life instead." She pushes him towards the bedroom door. "Now prove to us that you are a part of this team and shoot one of them. I'll even let you have your pick!"

Sprite growls and stomps off towards the kitchen. "This is so unfair. I need to go commit arson to feel better."

Avocado gasps, yelling, "No fire! You still need to gut me!" as they follow her. "At the very least, spray paint my body with the closest color of blood!"

Ambxon walks down the hall, feeling his heartbeat going nuts in his chest. His hands were shaking and sweating. He only had to injure one of them. Feni never said that he had to kill anyone this time, but ever since it was he was tasked to shoot and kill Fundy, he had a problem hurting anyone. That day, he had helped Fundy escape and ended up getting beat by their boss. Ever since then, Feni was sure to remind him of his failure to keep him from messing up again. If he messed this moment up, he could be beaten again. Or worse.

He turns the doorknob and slowly opens the door. Inside, he finds the two agents standing up, untied. "How did you two get out?!" Amb asks.

Darryl and Zak both notice the gun in Amb's hands, so they raise their arms up in surrender. "No need to shoot," Darryl says calmly. "Let's just talk, ok?" He takes a step towards Amb to try and take the gun, but Amb takes aim at Darryl.

"Stay back!" Ambxon yells. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't hurt us!" Darryl says with a smile. "It'll be ok! I promise. Just give me the gun and we can talk."

Amb lowers the gun. "You mean it?"

"NOW!" Darryl yells. Both him and Zak charge at Amb and wrestle with him to get the gun out of his hands. They then hear a gunshot, making all three of them jump back and drop the gun. Darryl scrambles to the ground and grabs the gun while Ambxon slams the bedroom door shut. Darryl gets you and aims the gun at the door. "Ok, Zak! You ready to get out of here?"

"Darryl?" Zak asks weakly. Darryl turns around to find Zak holding his stomach, blood pouring out from between his fingers.

———

Word Count: 2146

Don't forget to join my discord server where you can talk to some pretty awesome people! I'm currently taking OC submissions, so if you would like your OC to be possibly featured in this story or in a future story, join the server! I will post the link below as well as in my comments!

<3 App1es

https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Published: August 7th


	21. A/N: BETA READERS/EDITORS WANTED!

Hey everyone!!! I'm looking to put together a team of people to beta read/edit my story! You must have a discord account to apply. I do all of the editing currently, but my stories aren't as polished as I'd like them to be. As a beta reader/editor, you will learn the whole story of whatever story you read and edit for so that I can ask for help with organizing ideas, so keep that in mind when you apply. Also, if you are chosen, you are not allowed to give any spoilers to anyone! With that being said, if you want to apply, please fill out the survey below!!! Thanks everybody!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1F_x_U8LChe8Ka1tRiM8riz7ns0M8BaBm0dhOlJlQ_xQ/edit


	22. Chapter 21

Zak falls into Darryl's arms, breathing heavily. Darryl checks his backside and finds that the bullet didn't make it all the way through his body. It didn't cut his spine since he was still alive, but it's still possible that it hurt something else inside of him. Darryl carefully sets Zak down on the floor and leans him against his bed.

"We need to stop the bleeding," Zak struggles to speak. His eyes water as he listens to his ears ring. "Shit, this fucking sucks."

"Language!" Darryl whispers to him, doing his best not to panic.

Zak glares at him as he grits his teeth. "We need to do this before I bleed out all over the carpet!"

Darryl nods and takes his hands off of Zak as he looks around the room. "Would a belt help?"

Zak shakes his head. "It wouldn't apply enough pressure. Go to the bathroom and grab one of my rags. I don't care which one." As Darryl leaves, Zak looks down at his bloodied hand and slowly lifts it from his wound. "Wow. It's a lot grosser than the textbooks made it seem like it'd be."

Darryl returns to the room with a rag in one hand. He was no longer able to contain his panic as he yelled at Zak, "Those kids are gone and they took Nick with them!"

Zak nods slowly, then looks down at his creek colored carpet, now stained a deep shade of red. "This is going to take forever to clean out."

"Do you know where your phone is?" Darryl asks as he paces the room. "We need to call for help and they took mine."

"I don't know, but find it quick," Zak demands. He rubs his hand across the pool of blood forming and lifts it up, watching as the blood trickles off of his hand and back onto the floor. "If I don't call someone to clean this soon, my carpet will be ruined."

"CAN YOU FORGET ABOUT THE CARPET ZAK?!" Darryl screams, finally breaking. "You just got SHOT because of me!"

Zak looks up at Darryl, removing the red stained rag from his wound. "What are you talking about?"

Darryl notices his exposed wound and dives to the ground to cover it back up, his knee landing in the pooling blood. He takes the rag from Zak and cringes as he places it against his wound. "I'm the one that shot you. I thought it was pointed at that other agent, but they turned it the last second and I shot you instead. I didn't realize it until after he left."

Zak rests his hands on top of Darryl's. "Hey, it's okay. Accidents happen."

"No! It's not okay!" Darryl cries, pushing his hands more into Skeppy's abdomen, causing him to wince in pain. "I-I shot you! I hurt you!"

"And you're going to kill me too if you push harder," Zak's face fills with pain as he pulls Darryl's hand slightly up.

Darryl shakes his head and presses onto him. "No, I need to put pressure on it! You're losing too much blood, Zak."

Zak's breathing begins to stutter as he scrunches his face up, doing his best to fight through the pain taking over his body. The pain turned to numbness and he found himself unable to feel his legs. "Darryl, you need to call for help."

Darryl nods. He takes his hand off of the rag and presses Zak's hands onto it. "Don't move, okay?" Zak leans his head back against his bed as he holds the soaking rag against his wound, groaning as he nods.

Darryl leaves the room, feeling incredibly sick. He couldn't believe he shot Zak. He wanted to scream, cry, and vomit all at the same time. And thinking about the fact that they got away with Nick only made him feel worse. He swallowed back the burning sensation at the back of his throat and eventually found Zak's phone on the table by the front door. He panicked at first when he saw that it required a password to get into, but found that his thumbprint still worked to unlock it. When they were still together, Zak had programmed Darryl's thumbprint into it for emergencies. He must've never deleted it. After unlocking the phone, he quickly finds Vincent's contact and calls him.

As soon as the phone stopped ringing in his ears, he word-vomits into the phone. "VINCENT! Zak was shot and they took Nick the kids took Nick I don't know what to do Zak can't walk or anything-" The front door opens, cutting him off.

Clay enters first, holding his gun out in front of him. Vincent and Jake were right behind him. Vincent's worried eyes meet Darryl's. "Where is he?"

"He's in his room!" Darryl shouts, pointing down the hallway. Vincent and Jake both take off as Clay stays back to talk to Darryl.

"So they took Nick?" Clay asks.

Darryl nods. "I don't know where they took him. They have our earpieces and I think they have my phone. Did you find Dylan?"

Clay nods. "We have him. They beat him and broke his finger. We need to find Nick before they do something worse to him."

"HE'S UNCONSCIOUS!" Vincent yells from the bedroom. Vincent and Jake come out of the bedroom, carefully carrying Zak in their arms. They go out the front door, followed by Darryl and Clay. They all load into the van, leaving a space for Zak to lay down in the back.

"Is he dead?!" Darryl asks as Geo begins driving towards the nearest hospital.

"I think he passed out from blood loss," Jake observes. "When he found him, he was out already and the rag was on the floor beside him. He's lost a decent amount of blood. Do you know what kind of bullet was fired from that gun?"

Darryl shakes his head. "I have no idea."

Jake sighs. "Let's hope that the bullet is still in one piece. We'll be screwed if the bullet fractured inside of him."

"I'm awful," Darryl mumbles. "I did this."

Once at the hospital, Darryl and Vincent both rush out of the van, carrying Zak into the emergency room. George was close behind them, carrying some medical records that Vincent told him to hold on to. He also had on a backpack that Clay handed to him which felt unnaturally heavy. He wasn't about to waste time asking what was in it, though. They were running out of time. The team bursts through the doors and don't have to wait long before they are helped. Zak is tossed onto a stretcher, but his teammates are asked to stay out in the waiting room because they weren't family. Vincent takes the papers from George and slides them onto the reception desk, then begins talking to the woman behind the desk about Zak's medical history.

Darryl sat right next to George, lowering his head into his hands. "Hey," George reassures softly. "Everything will be alright."

Darryl shakes his head. "I shot him, George."

"Not on purpose, though," George points out. Darryl doesn't respond. He just keeps his face covered, his elbows propped up onto his knees. George moves around in the squeaky faux leather chair, attempting to get into a more comfortable position. His awkward shifting only gains the attention of the people around him. Realizing that there was no getting comfy, he settles back into his original upright position.

After finishing up with the receptionist, Vincent sits on the other side of Darryl. He puts a hand on Darryl's shoulder and rubs circles into it with his thumb. "They will do everything they can to help him."

"What if their everything isn't good enough?" Darryl asks.

"It will be," George states, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. "It has to be."

The doors creak as they open up, grabbing George's attention. Clay walks in, followed by Dylan. Outside, George can see their van drive away. Clay scans the waiting room then spots George. He looks at Dylan and nods his head towards George. Dylan crosses his arms and looks around, seeming to be quite uncomfortable. The two make their way to sit with the others. Clay sits beside George and grabs the backpack he carried in off of the floor. He unzips the bag and pulls a bulky laptop out. It boots up in just a few seconds, allowing him to log on.

"You know, when I asked if the backpack was full of bricks, I didn't realize there was a literal brick in there," George jokes.

"Hey, it may look stupid and uncool, but Dylan and I built this thing to be the best laptop there ever was!" Clay brags. "While we wait, I'm going to see if I can track the missing earpieces to see where they are taking Nick. If we're lucky, we should be able to track them down before they realize it!"

"Are Geo, Jake, and Jude coming back soon?" George asks.

Clay shakes his head. "Jude needed to get back to the club and needed Jake and Geo's help to get into the boss's computer." He begins typing away in some sort of program while George finds himself drifting to sleep in his seat. In the last twelve hours, he learned that Clay and his friends were agents, met a beautiful man, attempted to seduce Wilbur, saved Dylan from being kidnapped, heard his best friend was taken, and now had to sit in the hospital while one of his teammates suffered from a gunshot wound.

George couldn't even begin to process Nick's disappearance. It still felt like some sort of sick joke to him. He was waiting to get a text from Nick saying that it was a joke or something. But the text never came. He was really missing in action and it was scaring George way more than he'd like to admit. So finally, after feeling like the world was caving in on him, he let himself drift to sleep.

Clay was too busy typing to notice George drifting to sleep. He was typing so many words per second, it was impossible to count. Clay repositioned himself as he continued typing and eventually felt some sort of weight fall onto his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees George laying on him with closed eyes. He looked so peaceful laying there. He had gone through so much that Clay understood that he needed a break. Everyone was used to this sort of thing. Staying awake and active for twenty four hours at a time was normal. But for someone who is so new to this? There's no way he would've made it without a nap. Clay freezes and does his best not to move a single inch while he continues to type.

Unable to find a free seat by them earlier, Dylan took a seat across from Clay and decided to mess with his phone while they waited for news on Zak. When he notices that George is sleeping on Clay's shoulder, he begins to giggle to himself. He opens up his camera and takes a picture. He then sends it to Clay with the message, "You two are cute."

Clay looks at his phone, then looks back up at Dylan with an unentertained expression. "Really? Now is not the time dude."

Before Dylan could make any more snide remarks, a doctor comes out and begins to explain to them what is happening with Zak. He had been shot right in the stomach and would have to undergo immediate surgery before any more damage was done. He then leads the group into a waiting room behind the receptionist desk that was right by the room where an anesthesiologist would administer the anesthetic to keep Zak out during the surgery. This new waiting room was empty at the moment and George groaned when he found that the chairs were even less comfortable than the ones he saw earlier. These didn't even have a padded back to them.

Darryl begged the nurse by Zak's door to let him in, but the woman turned him away. After multiple attempts at trying to get in, Darryl gives up and retreats back to a seat beside Vincent, returning his head to his hands. Vincent looks at Darryl, almost as if he wanted to say something, but instead stays silent.

While they all eagerly wait, the anesthesiologist bursts out of the room and begins yelling for a doctor, claiming that Zak's respiratory system was failing. They all watch in horror as multiple people enter the room. Darryl clutches Vincent's hand as he holds his breath, unable to think about anything else besides the fact that Zak was dying.

Clay glances at Dylan and nods, giving Dylan the signal he needed to get up. Dylan quietly walks closer to the room and leans against the wall, listening to the conversations inside. He then walks back and leans over to Clay. "Someone tampered with the gas mixture as well as the alarm that was supposed to go off when the process was done."

"What does that mean?" George questions, his face starting to fill with worry.

Clay takes a breath as he closes out of the program on his laptop and opens a new one. "It means that someone was trying to kill Zak. And I think I know who." He takes a moment to type into this new program, disabling lines of code before getting into the hospital's local network. "That was scarily easy."

"Is there a way to check on the machine?" George asks.

Clay nods and locates a ground of text that George couldn't understand. Based off Clay's reaction, he could tell that it wasn't good. "Those agents are in the system! Shit!"

"Can you tell which one?" Dylan asks.

"It's Thundah."

Dylan nods. "Makes sense. Her brother is a tech genius. I'd be surprised if she didn't have any experience with these sorts of things."

"Can you kick her out of the system before she does anything else?" George asks.

"I'll try." Clay then starts deleting all of the chunks of code that Thundah was typing into the program remotely. She was typing fast for someone who wasn't an expert on technology. George watched as Clay's eyes became intense as he continued to kick her out of the system. "Ok, she's almost gone, but she stole medical records."

"Why would she want Zak's medical records?" George asks.

"They weren't Zak's," Clay explains. "They were Nick's. Apparently he gets seen here too."

"Why would they want his medical records?" Dylan asks.

"I don't know, and I don't think I want to find out," Clay mumbles. "Ok, I got her out of the system!"

"Great! Save the IP so we can track her down!" Dylan suggests excitedly.

"I can't. She was using a VPN," Clay explains. "I really hope that Zak's okay. She pumped way too much gas into his system."

But judging by the worried expression on the medical staff's faces as Zak was rolled on his bed from his room to down the hall, he was not okay.

———

Word Count: 2542

This was the first chapter edited by my lovely beta readers! Thank you to those of you who submitted editor applications. I'd like to introduce the readers of Bang and Burn to my editors:

Kagiharas

Wildsprite

Lazycat

RollingThundah

And Maximum!

Also, special thanks to my brainstorming buddy Strawberry!!! I love and appreciate all of you guys so much!!!

Don't forget to join my discord server where you can talk to some pretty awesome people! I'm currently taking OC submissions, so if you would like your OC to be possibly featured in this story or in a future story, join the server! I will post the link below as well as in my comments!

<3 App1es

https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Published: August 11th


	23. Chapter 22

"Darryl, please sit down," Vincent begs. "Your pacing is making me dizzy."

"I'm sorry, I'm just worried." He sits down in between Vincent and George, who had once again fallen asleep, this time wrapped in Clay's arms. Darryl's leg begins bouncing with anticipation, so Vincent presses a hand against his thigh to make him stop. Darryl makes an annoyed face at Vincent and removes his hand from his leg.

Vincent cringes as he wipes his hand against his pants. "Darryl, your hands are gross and sweaty."

Darryl nervously laughs and rubs his palms against his shirt, leaving faint streaks of wetness in the dark blue fabric.

"Hey, Dylan?" Clay whispers. "Can you text Floris for me?"

Dylan snorts out a laugh. "Dude why are you whispering?" Clay only responds by tilting his head down to George against his chest. Dylan gags. "You two are gross."

Clay shakes his head and smiles. "You'll understand when you're older."

"So, are you guys going to fuck without hating each other now?" Dylan asks as he begins to write a text to Floris.

"You know what? On second thought, you won't ever understand because I may kill you before you even become an adult."

Dylan laughs. "You wouldn't. You love me too much." He looks back to his phone as it buzzes in his hand. "Floris says that you can meet him in the classroom. He's just teaching kids how to do nerdy tech stuff. Geo will drive."

"Alright, you and I will go meet up with him," Clay decides.

"NO!" Dylan blurts out, startling George awake. George sits up and shuffles in his seat, waiting for Dylan to explain himself. "I don't have a good relationship with some of those teens. Especially Sylvester. She scares me."

"Is there anyone your age who likes you?" George asks.

"Nope," Clay responds before Dylan Can say anything. "He's an asshole."

"But I'm your asshole!" Dylan teases.

Dream stands up and grabs the backpack with his laptop off of the ground, slinging it onto his back. "If you're staying here, please be back home before nine tonight. You don't need to be out by yourself long."

"Whatever dad. I'll be fine. I've got Darryl and Vincent. We will be fine." Dylan gets up from his seat and moves into a seat on the other side of Vincent. "You and 404 should go and have a date on your way to the offices."

"Dylan!" Clay hisses through gritted teeth.

George yawns and rubs his eyes. "Let's just go, Clay." He looks at Vincent. "Text me as soon as you hear about Zak, ok?"

Vincent nods. "I promise, I will."

Clay grabs George's hand and leads him out of the hospital. Once they made it to the parking lot, George pulled his hand away from Clay. "You didn't have to hold my hand like I'm a child. I know not to run my hands on the walls and stuff."

"Am I not allowed to hold your hand?" Clay asks as he pulls his phone out to call Geo.

"No. You can't. You're not allowed." George crosses his arms. "We already talked about this. Nothing will happen between us."

Clay exhales through his nose and rolls his eyes. "Fine. I won't touch you. Sorry for trying to be comforting while your teammate is in the hospital."

"I don't need you to be my shoulder to cry on," George says.

"Right, you just need me to be your shoulder to sleep on!" Clay retorts. He dials Geo's number and he picks up almost immediately. "Hey, are you almost here?"

Geo responds by honking the car horn as he slows to a stop in front of them. Clay hangs up the phone and climbs into the passenger seat. George gets into the back and positions himself in the seat behind Geo. "Are you two ok?" Geo asks. "I'm sensing tension."

"We're fine," Clay responds harshly.

"Well, you're obviously not," Geo points out, "but I won't push. Just make sure that you both lighten up before you see Floris. He won't be happy if his visitors show up in bad moods."

"Wait a minute, does Floris know that you guys are undercover agents?" George asks.

"Yeah, but he's the only one that knows. He helps us out with reprogramming our devices," Geo explains. "He's a genius. The guy took over for Zak when he joined your team."

"Zak wasn't always on the team?" George asks.

Geo shakes his head. "He was the technology mentor for new agents, but Techno assigned him to Nick's team when they were sent to hunt down Dream. He's one of the best in the business, so Techno felt that it was necessary. After that, Floris took over."

George nods as he lays his head against the window, stealing glances at Clay across from him. He couldn't stop looking at him, no matter how hard he tried. His cheeks were pinker than they normally were and his usually styled hair was matted against his head. George didn't think it was possible to tell what someone was feeling just by looking at things like that, but somehow, George knew. Maybe it was because he felt it too. They missed each other. For weeks, they were practically inseparable. They would constantly talk and would share every ounce of good news they could with each other. But now, they couldn't do that. It would possibly never be the same.

Geo pulled into a parking spot and shut the car off. "Floris is in the classroom. I need to go help Jude with some stuff at the bar. Please don't kill each other in there."

Clay's eyes drift from Geo, to George, then back to Geo. "No promises." He pops his car door open and leaves, quickly walking towards the entrance. When George realizes that Clay isn't waiting for him, he begins to shuffle out of the car, only stopping when Geo says his name.

"George? Give him time. You're both confused and in pain." Geo offers a friendly smile. "Things will work out. I know they will." George takes a moment to soak in Geo's words, then nods, leaving the car to jog towards the entrance. George silently follows Clay, not knowing if he should say anything. He just felt so awkward around him now. They should be fine. They know that they are both agents, so there should be no issue. But, for some reason, they were both too damn stubborn to get over it. After a short elevator ride to the second floor, they made their way into the classroom that Geo had mentioned.

The first thing George noticed was a few teenagers crowded around a computer, cackling at something on the screen. In the middle of them was a ginger with her hair in a messy ponytail. She typed something on the keyboard, causing everyone around her to laugh even more than before.

"Ah! Dream! It's been a while, my friend!" A slender man says behind them with a Dutch accent. He offers his hand out to George. "You must be 404. My name is Floris, but here, you can call me Fundy." He looks over to the group of teens and sighs. "Ok, that's enough you guys!"

"What are they doing?" Clay asks.

"The one with the red hair, Sylvester, took this photo of me when I was in the middle of teaching a class and has had this weird obsession with it ever since. I gave them free time for a little bit and all they've been doing is captioning it with stupid phrases." George glances back towards the teens just as Sylvester turns the monitor around for George to see.

In the picture, Fundy had a tight-lipped smile and wore glasses. His wavy dark hair hung in his face slightly. At the bottom of the picture in bolded white letters was the word, "Hi." George cracked a smile and waved.

Fundy grabs his hand and pulls it down. "No! Don't encourage them! They won't stop." Sylvester turns the monitor around and types something new in, making everyone giggle. "What now?" Sylvester turns the monitor to reveal the words, "Child Labor," at the bottom of the screen.

"Can you believe the shit I deal with?" Fundy asks. Before anyone could say anything, laughter erupts from the corner as Sylvester types something out. She then turns the monitor around. It was the same picture, but it was captioned, "Can you believe the shit I deal with?" Then, all of the teens begin whining.

"Fundy, did you turn off my computer?" Sylvester asks.

"I did," a young man says from beside the wall, holding the computer's plug in his hands. "Playtime is over."

"Aiden! What the hell?!" Sylvester yells. "I'm going to beat your ass!"

Aiden looks at one of the other girls beside Sylvester. "Glaze? Help me out here?"

Glaze snorts out a laugh, making her faded blue hair fall into her face. "You're on your own, Aiden."

"You guys are impossible." Aiden joins Fundy and offers his hand out to Clay. "Agent PrismaKi, how can we help you?"

Clay pulls all of the earpieces out of his pocket. "Our teams are currently linked because we are working on a mission together. One of the earpieces was stolen, so we need new ones for our whole team."

"Lucky for you, I've got a whole batch of earpieces ready to go!" Fundy exclaims. "I've just got to link them to each other real quick. Pris? Watch the gremlins please." Aiden nods and walks over to the teens who were now crowded around Sylvester's phone.

Fundy takes the earpieces from Clay and tosses them onto the table as he sits down at his computer. He reaches into his drawer and pulls out a box that held about 20 earpieces. He plugs one of them in and begins to input the undercover team's data into his computer. Then, a loading bar pops up on the screen. "So, what have you guys been working on?" Fundy asks as he leans back in his chair.

"Well, a group of agents have been after us," Clay explains. "They jumped Dylan, shot agent Skeppy, and kidnapped agent Sapnap. They also stole some earpieces which is why we needed new ones."

Fundy's gaze drops for a second as he loses himself in thought. "Can you tell me more about these agents?"

"Yeah. They're mostly teenagers except for, like, two of them," George responds. "They're incredibly deadly. There's six of them."

"Huh, weird," Fundy mumbles. "You know, I was attacked by some rogue agents not too long ago, but there were only five of them. Do you know their names?"

Clay nods. "Feni is their leader. Then there's Cat, Avocado, Ambxon, Sprite, and Thundah."

For some reason, the name "Thundah" catches Aiden and Sylvester's attention. They both wander over as Fundy says, "Those are the same kids that attacked me. They jumped me when I was visiting Clay's restaurant. One of them almost killed me, but couldn't pull the trigger and just let me go like nothing. I didn't question it because I figured that they were just agents on a mission and just grabbed the wrong guy. But after hearing that, I don't think their intentions are pure."

"You said that one of them was named 'Thundah', right?" Aiden asks. George nods. Aiden looks at Sylvester with a pain in his eyes. "That's my little sister. I haven't heard from her in so long. Sylve here was really close to her too. But she joined a new team and now we never see her. I had no idea that she was doing this." George noticed how he was talking about her like she was dead or something. His voice was cracking and he looked so ashamed.

Sylvester didn't seem to be doing much better. Her expression was colder, but it was obvious that she was in pain. "Did she really help do all of that?"

Clay notices her pain and decides to say, "Hey, this isn't your fault. She probably just got wrapped up in her mission."

"Why would Techno send his own agents to kill other agents?" Fundy wonders aloud. "That makes no sense to me. I think they are working independently. Maybe someone else is paying them to do this?"

"Either way, I need to call my sister," Aiden states. "Whatever is going on needs to stop now."

Sylvester nods. "I'll call her too. She is more likely to pick up a call from me than she is to pick up one from you."

"Why's that?" Aiden asks.

Sylvester smirks to herself. "No reason." They both share a quick glance and smile as they walk back towards the other kids.

Fundy finishes up the rest of the earpieces, making small talk with George in an attempt to get to know him. George found himself enjoying his time chatting with him. Fundy was definitely smart for someone that looked like they were fresh out of high school. He said he was twenty one, but he had a youthful innocence in him that George had only ever seen in Zak. Not even Dylan had that same innocence. He looked like the type of kid to have seen some shit in his short lifetime.

As soon as Fundy finished with the earpieces, he grabs George's phone and puts in his contact info. "Don't ever hesitate to call or text if you need anything! It was a pleasure meeting you, 404. If you ever want to learn how to hack into something or reprogram a machine or literally anything else that involves technology, you come to me."

"I will, I promise. Thank you, Fundy!" George's phone vibrates in his hand as he gets a text from Darryl.

Darryl

He's awake!

———

Word Count: 2303

Don't forget to join my discord server where you can talk to some pretty awesome people! I’ve also started something fun for the discord members! I’ve set up a server that allows my readers to also read test messages that Dylan sends throughout the story. It shows new sides to characters that have not been shown in the story as well as gives some information that may help you all solve the mysteries of this story! His text messages get updated multiple times a day and only my discord members have access to it, so if this interests you, use the link below to join my discord!!! 

<3 App1es

https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Published: August 14th


	24. A/N- Taking a Short Break

Hello there, my dear reader,

I’m going to be taking a short break to work on my mental health. I just need some time to work things out for myself. Don’t worry, I am 100% ok, I just need time. I hope you all understand that and can be patient with me for now. If you are ever feeling like you are alone or in need of help, don’t be afraid to reach out to people to get that help. Always remember that you are loved. I’ll be back in 2-3 days. I promise.

<3 App1es


	25. Chapter 23

GUYS IM BACK OMG!!!

Thank you all so much for giving me the time I need! I appreciate every one of you guys so much for giving me the time I need to heal up. I didn’t respond to very many of them, but I read each and every one. I was nearly brought to tears over how lovely these messages were. I couldn’t be more thankful for all of the love and support I got. Now buckle up! These next few chapters are going to be quite the ride!!! 💕💕💕

———

Zak was sleeping peacefully, wrapped up in his hospital blanket. Darryl was sitting in a chair right beside the bed. He had Zak's hand in his and had their laced fingers against his forehead. His eyes were tightly shut and he was gnawing at his bottom lip. Despite the surgery being a success, Darryl was still worried beyond belief. He didn't even look up when the door to the room opened.

George and Clay walked in together in silence, not having much to say. Clay scanned the room and noticed that Darryl and Zak were the only ones in there. "What happened to Vin and Dylan?"

Darryl lowered Zak's hand back down to the bed, gently pulling his hand away. He looks up at Clay with swollen eyes, breaking his heart in the process. Darryl looked so broken, yet so happy at the same time. "They went to get Zak some food he can eat for later. The doctors said that he has to be on a full fluid diet. It's just things like yogurt, soups, stuff like that." He laughed a quiet, dry laugh. "Zak was awake for a little bit. It wasn't for long, but he was up just enough to beg Vincent to grab him some pudding. He's such a child sometimes."

George grabs a chair from the wall and places it beside Darryl. He watched as he once again held Zak's hand, rubbing circles into the back of his hand. While George wasn't used to this level of affection between the two, it didn't feel awkward. It was as if things were always meant to be this way. "So, uh, he's going to be alright?"

"Yeah," Darryl whispers. "He's going to be just fine."

The door to the room opens once again as Vincent and Dylan step inside, carrying plastic bags full of stuff for Zak. The two were laughing together as they walked in, but promptly stopped when Darryl hushed them. Dylan walked over to Darryl and opened up his bag to show off what he had found. "Dude, we had way too much fun buying pudding. Did you know how many flavors of this shit there is?" He wasn't lying. In the bag was at least one of every flavor he could possibly get his hands on. He pulls out a package and tosses it to Clay. "That one is mine. If you touch it, I'll bite you," he threatens.

Clay catches the package and turns it around to read the name. "Chocolate Cinnamon Spice?"

"Yes, and I'm not sharing." Dylan reaches into the bag and tosses a package of pink and blue pudding cups to him. "I grabbed those for you anyway."

Clay reads the side of the package, then looks back at Dylan. "What the fuck is 'mermaid' flavor?"

Dylan snickers. "I don't know. Eat it and find out."

"Why wouldn't they put the actual flavor anywhere on the packaging?!" Clay asks as he turns it around. "This is so stupid!"

"Don't worry, it comes with mermaid tattoos too!" Dylan covers his mouth to muffle his laughter as Clay chucks the pudding back at him. He catches it and puts it back into the bag, doing what he could to compose himself.

Vincent opens up his bag. "We also got every flavor of jell-o we could find."

"Perfect." Zak's voice startled everyone, but in the best way possible. He slowly turns to Darryl, his eyes only half open. "Hey."

"Hey," Darryl giggles. "How are you feeling?"

Zak painfully pushes himself up his bed to get into a more upright position. "I'm ok at the moment. Everything hurts, but it could be worse." Zak looks at the bag of pudding in Dylan's hands, then back to Darryl. "Can I pretty, pretty please have some pudding?"

"Not until the doctor says you can," Darryl responds.

Zak widens his eyes and sticks out his bottom lip in a pout. "Pwease Darrie?" He grabs a package that was similar to the mermaid pudding, but was red and green and was labeled "Dragon Treasure." It also appeared to come with some cheesy tattoos. "I want to start with this one so you can put on that tattoo that you promised you would!"

Darryl pries the pudding package out of his hands and opens it up, removing the tattoos and tossing the pudding cups into the bag. "You can't eat any, but I will let you pick a tattoo for me to put on." Zak smirks as he takes the tattoos out of his hand, flipping through them to find the one he thought was the funniest. Darryl looked on, a familiar warmness spreading across his face. Usually, he would do everything in his power to hide it. But now, he welcomed the red blush that grew across his cheeks and nose.

Dylan gags as he hands the bag to Darryl. "Sorry, but you two are gross."

"You can leave if it bothers you so much," Zak says as he reaches for one of the pudding packages, quickly stopped by Darryl slapping away his hand.

Dylan sinks into the only other empty chair in the room. "Oh, I'm not going anywhere."

"Why not?" Zak asks. Dylan doesn't respond, deciding to pull his phone out to text someone. Based on the expression on his face, he was not having a good time talking to this person. Dylan became instantly stressed.

Dylan stopped typing and looked at Clay as his phone chimed in his pocket. He glares at Dylan, then types a message, making Dylan's phone go off. The exchange lasts for a few minutes while George chatted with Zak and Darryl. The only one to notice their silent conversation was Vincent, who got on his own phone to compose a text to someone else. "I hate to cut this short," Clay starts, "but George and I need to get going."

"We literally just got here!" George whines. "Can't you give me a few minutes or something?"

"According to this asshole," he growls, motioning to Dylan, "I need to teach you how to fire a gun." Clay seemed just as stressed as Dylan, his face beginning to glow with irritation.

George crosses his arms. "I'm not going, Clay."

Clay grabs George's arm and tugs him out of the chair. "You're going to learn how to shoot a goddamn gun!"

Darryl stands up and puts himself in between the two. "First of all, language! Secondly, there is no need to be hostile. Just let George stay for, like, half an hour, and you guys can go."

"NO! WE NEED TO GO NOW!" Clay roars.

Everyone in the room sinks back except for George, who was taking none of Clay's crap. "NO! You don't get to stand there and dictate what I do! You have been nothing but difficult all fucking day and I'm over it!"

"GET YOUR ASS OUT OF HERE SO WE CAN LEAVE!"

"WHY?!" George screeches.

"BECAUSE SAPNAP IS BEING TORTURED AND YOU CAN ONLY GO IF YOU LEARN HOW TO SHOOT!" The room falls silent as everyone processes what he said.

Dylan covers his face with one of his hands as he shakes his head. "Look, I've been in contact with some other agents. They've helped me locate where he is. They traced him back to a warehouse an hour outside of the city, but there's a bunch of people there besides those other agents. Clay said that the only way George would be allowed to go is if he learns how to use a gun."

"And when were you going to tell us this?" Vincent asks Clay.

Clay holds eye contact with Vincent for a few moments before looking away, knowing that there was no way to get out of this. "Honestly, I was going to wait until we could send George home before telling you guys anything." He looks at George, watching as he tries to process what he was told.

His eyes fogged over as his face became void of any and all emotion. "He's being tortured?"

"Don't worry," Darryl says gently. "We have been trained to know how to handle torture. We learned all about it when we trained together a few years ago."

Clay shakes his head. "This isn't normal torture. The man behind it is trying to pick us off one by one. First, he had Dylan kidnapped, then he nearly got away with killing Skeppy. Now, he's after Sapnap. He doesn't want information, he wants to break us."

"Wait," Vincent starts, "you know who's doing this?!"

Clay's gaze drifts to Dylan as if he was hoping that he'd be able to provide some support. Dylan, however, looked just as lost as Clay felt. "I do. At least, I think I do. But right now, we need to focus on getting Nick back. Once he's safe, I'll have my team do some digging to see if my suspicions are correct." He grabs George's hand. "Now can we please go? The longer we wait, the more pain Nick will be in." Clay hated having to use Nick's torture to light a fire under George's butt, but he felt like it had to be done. George slowly nods and walks towards the door, his hand hanging loosely in Clay's.

When they got into the car, Clay joked, "It's a good thing I drove us! Geo would've killed me if he had to pick us up again already!" He looked over, expecting some sort of response from George. But he got nothing. George was just sitting there, leaning his head against the window. Realizing that now wasn't the time to make small-talk, Clay decided to shut up. They drove all the way to the offices in silence. Neither one of them minded being left alone with their thoughts. George was convincing himself that everything would be okay while Clay kept himself busy thinking about the man behind it all. He had recognized the man's handwriting from the note left in Zak's home all those months ago and was surprised that no one else recognized it.

When they made it to the office building, Clay quickly jumped out of the car and pulled George out of the passenger side. He wasn't excited to be teaching George how to shoot, but the sooner he knew the basics, the sooner they'd be able to save Nick. He practically dragged George all the way to his team's gym. Clay pulled two targets out of a closet, along with two handguns and some basic safety gear. George felt nervous looking at the targets. They were in the shape of people with a large target painted on their chests. It made him uncomfortable. As he handed George a pair of safety glasses, he could tell that he was still stuck in some sort of daze. George just kind of stood there, holding the glasses in his hands. After a moment of awkwardly waiting, Clay takes the glasses from George and puts them on for him.

"Alright, let's get started." Clay offers a gun to George, but the brit hesitates. "Don't worry, it's not loaded at the moment." George takes the pistol out of his hand and holds it tightly in his left hand. "Now, I want you to remember, a gun is just an object. It can't hurt anyone unless you give it the power to do so." He points to a small switch on the side of the gun. "This is the safety, only turn it off when you intend to shoot something." Clay continued going down a list of gun terminology that George didn't care enough to remember while sliding a loaded magazine into place. He was too preoccupied thinking about Nick. He felt guilty for laughing or smiling because he knew that Nick was suffering somewhere else. When he agreed to do this, he wasn't warned about these kinds of dangers. George felt like he should've known and expected it, but for some reason, the thought of torture never once crossed his mind. He also found himself wishing that he had the proper training that everyone else had gone through. If he was captured, he'd have no idea how to handle himself. George would've never expected that becoming a honeytrap would come with so many issues. "George?" Clay snaps him out of his trance. "Did you even listen to a word I said?"

"Mhm," George hums.

Clay steps back and motions towards the target. "Just remember what I told you and you should be just fine."

George stares at Clay, dumbfounded. "You want me to shoot it?"

Clay gives him a funny look. "Is that not what I just told you to do?"

George nods and holds the gun in front of him with two shaking hands. He aimed at the target, nervous to pull the trigger. He hadn't listened to a word Clay had said and now he has to actually try it. He takes a breath and pulls the trigger, but it only makes a clicking noise. "Why didn't it fire?"

George looks at Clay, who was pinching the bridge of his nose. "The safety is on, George."

George turns the gun on its side and switches off the safety, then raises it and fires. Not only did he miss the target on the fake body's chest completely, the loud bang as well as the feeling of a small explosion in his hands scared him. 

Clay groans as he grabs the gun from George. I already told you that you need to account for the kick when firing."

"The kick?" George asks.

"The acceleration of the gun when you fire," Clay explains. "You didn't listen to a thing I said, did you?"

"No, no I listened!"

Clay switches the safety back on and tosses it onto the table behind them that held the gun cases. "You know what? Fine. I won't train you. This is hopeless."

"Hey, I'm not hopeless!" George shouts. "I'm just still learning. I fired a single bullet and you're already giving up on me."

"Because this is hopeless!"

"Hey! I didn't get the same training you got. Let me learn!" George grabs the gun from the table and holds it out towards Clay. "Please teach me. I'll listen this time."

"You can't even aim! How do you expect to be an agent when you can't fucking aim?!"

George felt his face heating up. "I'm listening now. Teach me."

"Alright. Fine. Switch the safety off and shoot at the target again." George hits the switch and points the barrel at the target once again. But, just like last time, he shoots and misses.

Clay laughed. But it wasn't out of entertainment. He was so mad that he couldn't help it. "God, you suck at this."

George puts the safety back on and slams it down on the table. "If I'm so fucking bad, teach me!"

"I TRIED George! What the hell do you want from me?!"

"I want you to show me how to do this!" As George looks at Clay, he felt his eyes begin to sting with tears. "I want to help my best friend, Clay. Please, show me how to do this."

"If you go with us tonight, you'll only get in the way!" Clays words dug into George like a knife. Had it not been for Jake walking in right then, he would've exploded.

"What the hell is going on?" Jake asks.

Clay shoves his gun into Jake's hands. "You fucking teach him. I'm done here." Clay storms out, slamming the gym door behind him.

Jake looks at George, noticing that he was about to cry. He puts the gun on the table and pulls George into a hug. "I'm sorry, man."

George wraps his arms around Jake and lets himself relax a little. "I don't understand why he hates me so much right now. He keeps going off on me."

Jake pulls away to look George in his eyes. "He isn't trying to hurt you, you know? There's a lot going through his head right now. He is still struggling to figure out if what you two had was real because it's kind of your job to seduce him. On top of that, things are very dangerous right now. Whether you two want a relationship or not, he doesn't want to see you get hurt."

"I do really like him, Jake," George admits. "I like him so much. I just wish he'd give me a chance to show him that."

Jake smiles kindly. "Give him time. He'll come around. I promise." He picks the gun off of the table. "In the meantime, let's get to shooting."

The door opens behind them. George turns around, hoping to see Clay again, but instead sees Geo standing in the doorway, holding his car keys in his hands. "Clay just told me about the plan for tonight. I'm going to pick up Jude. Do you wanna come with?"

Jake shakes his head. "Nope! My buddy here needs help learning to shoot. I'll see you in a bit!" Geo waves and steps outside of the room. Jake turns his attention back to George. "Alright. Here's the first thing you have to do."

———

Word Count: 2872

Once again, thank you all for everything! As you know by now, I do have a discord and the link is below. I also made a special server that is only available to people you join my discord which gives readers access to Dylan’s text messages he send throughout the story. They are constantly updated and provide a side story to Bang and Burn, so join my discord for access!

https://discord.gg/GgFuvBV

I also have a Twitter now! You can follow me for story updates as well as to send/see any fanart I receive. I love talking to you guys, so drop a follow and let me know you’re a reader and I’ll follow you back! You can find me at:

@App13_Juice

Love you guys!!!

Published: August 19


	26. Chapter 24

A/N- Hello everyone! In light of the current a6d drama, I thought I'd let you guys know what I am still going to be using his character in this story. I don't agree with or support his actions, but the only similarity between irl a6d and this story's a6d is their name and appearance. Other than that, they are two different people. I hope that you all understand and support my decision and I am sorry if keeping him in the story offends anyone. It would just be a lot easier to keep him as the supporting character he is than it would be to write him out completely. Thank you all! I love you!!!

<3 Apples

"Spifey to Finn. I'm in the parking lot." Geo beat his fingers against his steering wheel, keeping the beat with the rap song playing through the speakers. The bar parking lot was surprisingly packed for a five o'clock show, but with Jude performing, Geo knew exactly why. Jude was one of the few people that looked attractive, no matter what gender he was portraying. After a moment of no response, Geo repeated his phrase.

"Finn here. Just meet me inside. I'm finishing up."

"On my way." Geo pulled the keys out of the ignition and jumped out of the car, ready to walk into the crowded bar.

Inside was absolutely nuts. It only ever got this busy when Jude was performing. Back when his whole team had to work there, he was one of the bartenders, so he hated it when Jude would go onstage. Now that he was on the other side of things, he found it quite entertaining to watch so many people scramble to throw money at his friend. Onstage, Jude seemed to be enjoying himself as well. He was lip syncing to the loud pop song playing and everyone was having a good time.

"Geo!" A voice called out from behind him. He turned to find Ruby, one of the few friends he made from working there. When Dylan had taken Clay, Nick, and George here not too long ago, Geo felt slightly jealous. He had missed her.

Geo greeted her with a wide smile, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Ruby! How are you?"

Ruby tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Oh, things have been great! I've missed having you and the other guys around, though. You were so much fun to have around."

"I've missed you too, but I haven't missed working here." Geo looked around, taking the whole place in. "This place sucks."

Ruby shrugged. "I mean, it's not that bad. We could have it a lot worse, I guess. How's Jake doing? He's the only one that I haven't seen recently."

"He's been alright. Nothing new with him."

Ruby giggled. "Nothing is ever new with him."

"You know how he is. He doesn't like to do a whole lot out of his comfort zone."

"You're right. Oh! Has Clay made his move on that new boy yet?" Ruby's eyes filled with innocence and excitement. Geo wanted to laugh. It seemed like everyone was just waiting for Clay to make his move on George. At this point, they may be better off convincing George to make the first move.

"Not yet," Geo sadly admits. "They've been going through some stuff." Geo's phone went off as he got a text from Clay.

Clay

Alright. Let's get started.

An hour ago, Clay had made a giant group chat with their whole team in it, claiming that they needed to have a "Family meeting". The only other time Clay had called this sort of meeting was back when they had first met Dylan. He made a group chat about having him join Forte. That whole conversation was joyous and fun because they had struck gold with Dylan. This group chat felt different. Dylan would've probably claimed that the vibe was off if he was with Geo in person.

Clay

So!

One of us in here was a fuckturd and started talking to the enemy.

Would everyone like to take a wild guess on who they think was stupid enough to do this?

Anyone?

Geo held his breath reading the texts. He knew it was Dylan. Clay only freaks out like this when Dylan does something wrong. He looked back towards the stage and locked eyes with Jude, who had just finished his set. He prances offstage, grabbing the few dollar bills that were scattered on the ground on his way off. Geo waved when he saw Jude walking towards him, still dressed in tight leather pants and a tank top with long blonde hair. Strawberry was locked to his side. She looked like she was looking around for something.

Geo showed the texts to Jude. "You seeing this?" Jude pulled his phone out of the tight leather pants he had on, unlocking it and opening it up to the giant group chat, just in time to see Clay's next text.

Clay

Well, it was Dylan.

Dylan was the fuckturd.

Jude and Geo both look at each other, sharing the same concerned expression. While it didn't surprise them that Dylan started talking to their enemies, they knew that Clay would probably be giving him hell right now. Geo only hoped that Dylan wasn't home.

Darryl

Dream, please don't use such strong language.

Let's be civil.

Clay

I'm a grown-ass adult.

I can say whatever the fuck I want.

Zak

Watch it bud.

With just three words, it was obvious that Zak was pissed at the way Clay responded to Darryl. It was a good thing that Darryl was at the hospital with him. They could keep each other calm while the whole thing went on.

Strawberry pats Jude's back as she looks back towards the stage. "I have to go get ready. I'll catch you later?"

Jude shrugs her off, not even looking up from his phone. "Yeah fine. Break a leg."

Geo watches her leave, but another person catches his eye. Sitting at the bar was a young man that didn't even look old enough to drink. He kept his head down, his pastel pink hair in his face. "Hey Jude," Geo said, motioning towards the guy. "That's Agent Angel Dust, isn't it?"

"Who?" Jude asked.

"That guy that works with the evil team. He goes by Cat."

Jude followed his gaze. "It is. What the fuck is he doing here? He isn't old enough to drink." They both look down as a new text comes through.

Clay

Anyway.

Because Dylan talked to them, not only do they know our conversations, they now know we are coming for Agent Sapnap.

Neither Geo nor Jude could believe what they were reading. It's not like Dylan to talk to people, especially their enemies. While Clay didn't say it, they both knew that he meant Dylan was in contact with the rogue agent team made of mostly kids. Geo, feeling brave enough to say something, sent his first text during the meeting.

Geo

Wait, seriously?

What the fuck Dylan?

It wasn't much, but he at least felt like he was contributing to the conversation. Based on Jude's glare, Geo could tell that he didn't seem to agree.

Darryl

LANGUAGE!

Clay

SHUT UP!

Vincent

You guys need to calm down.

Jude

I'm with Vin on this one.

This whole thing is being blown up for no reason.

"I don't understand why we can't have this conversation in person," Jude mumbled as his text was sent. He looked up at Geo, looking irritated. "You know, I really hate this side of Clay. He needs to calm down." Geo opened his mouth to respond but stayed silent as their phones chime.

Clay

I think we have a perfectly valid reason to blow up.

Dylan blew our cover.

Dylan

Oh fuck you Dream.

For weeks, you've done nothing but bitch at me and tell me how much I've messed up.

Newsflash!

I'M A FUCKING KID.

AND THEY BUGGED MY PHONE!

THEY ALREADY KNEW EVERYTHING!

"When the hell did those agents bug his phone?" Jude asked.

"I assume when they took Dylan earlier," Geo figured. "That's the only time that makes sense."

Clay

Why would you let them bug your phone?

Dylan

What do you think I did?!

"Oh, yes Feni! Here's my phone! Please bug it! And while you're at it, can you add one lump of sugar to my tea? Thanks!"

Geo continued reading, but Jude tapped his shoulder and pointed towards the front door as someone dressed in all black walked in, their left hand attached to something on their left hip. They had some sort of ski mask on, hiding their face from everyone else. Geo didn't miss a beat. He threw the table beside him onto its side and yelled for everyone to get down as the figure fired a warning shot into the air.

"Agent Spifey to the team! Finn's bar is under attack! SEND BACK UP!" Geo reached for his gun, but groaned when he remembered he left it in the car.

"Where is your gun?" Jude asks, watching his hands fumble with his empty gun holster.

"In the car," Geo calmly admits.

"You've got to be shitting me right now!"

Geo looked Jude up and down. "You don't seem to have your gun either!"

Jude glares at Geo. "Where the hell am I supposed to hide a gun wearing THIS?! Mine is backstage!"

Their phones both continue to go off as Zak and Clay begin arguing over what's best for Dylan. Zak was accusing Clay of being an awful parent for Dylan while Clay argued the opposite. Usually, Geo would be invested in the conversation, but right now, he was kind of busy. He and Jude both silently agreed to just catch up on the messages later. Geo peeked around the table and saw the figure walk towards the stage as people ran around him, desperate to get away.

"We need to disarm him before he hurts anyone," Geo states.

Jude nods. "Distract him and I'll get backstage to get my gun."

But before either of them left, the shooter started talking. "I'm here for Agent Finnster. Show yourself, and I won't hurt anyone." Geo felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. It was Wilbur. But why did he have a gun and how did he know that Jude was an agent?

Geo watched as Jude made a split second decision. He stood up from behind the table and held his arms in the air. "Wilbur, put the gun down."

Wilbur raised the gun towards him. "Walk over here, slowly. Any sudden movements will get you shot."

As Jude began walking towards him, Geo kept low to the ground, sneaking around the few tables that were in the establishment. He figured that the best way to stop Wilbur would be to disarm him. As he went, he listened to the conversation Jude started up in order to keep Wilbur's attention.

"Wilbur, this isn't you." Jude started to relax his arms, but raised them back up when he heard the safety on the gun get switched off. "You need to listen to me."

"No, you listen to me," Wilbur says. He almost sounded like he was crying. "You are going to do everything I say or I shoot you."

The bar falls silent as people cower in the corners, too scared to try and leave. "Why do you want to shoot me?"

Wilbur's hands begin to shake. "I don't. It's just business."

Finally at a good angle to rush him, Geo ran and tackled Wilbur to the ground, allowing Jude time to run backstage. Geo slammed Wilbur's hand against the ground, making him drop the gun. Wilbur tried to move underneath him, but couldn't manage to escape. Geo rips the ski mask off of him, letting his wild hair fall everywhere. Geo gets on his earpiece. "This is Agent Spifey to the team. We have the shooter in custody. It's Wilbur. You may want to come down here."

"Geo?" Wilbur asked. "You're one of them too?" Geo stayed silent, got off of Wilbur, and pulled him up to his feet. Wilbur tried to break free from Geo, but failed, eventually giving up. "I didn't know you were one of them."

"Why did you do this?" Geo couldn't see his face, but he knew that Wilbur was desperately searching for an answer.

"Geo, I fucked up. But if I don't do this, I'll die." It was obvious that he was telling the truth. He sounded so broken that there was no way it wasn't the truth. Geo felt his hands shaking as he held onto him. "Just let me shoot Jude and I'll leave. I don't even have to kill him. Please Geo. Please."

Geo felt sick. He couldn't fathom who would make him so scared, so desperate to shoot someone he called a friend. Wilbur was no longer himself. He was broken. "Wilbur, please tell me, who is doing-"

Geo got cut off by the sound of a gun firing backstage. "FINN?!" He calls out.

Wilbur, who saw this as a perfect distraction, managed to break free from Geo. He dived to the ground to grab his gun, then made a break for the exit. Geo hesitated for a second as Wilbur ran out, but decided to go after Jude, yelling, "Spifey to team! Man down! Where the hell are you guys?!" into his earpiece.

Geo quickly spotted Jude sprawled out on the floor backstage. He got down on his knees and began examining Jude for any signs of bullet wounds, but found nothing. Then, he spotted a bullet hole in the wall beside him. Whoever shot the bullet used it as a diversion. He carefully shakes Jude awake. "Hey man, stay with me. Wake up. Please wake up."

Jude took a deep breath as he slowly opened his eyes, groaning as he rubbed the back of his head. "Something hit me. What happened?"

"Wilbur is getting away," Geo explained. "We have to go after him!"

Jude started to sit up, but laid back down. "Send someone else after him, I'm not going anywhere with this splitting headache."

"Spifey to Technoblade. There was a shooting. No one was hurt, but Agent Finnster's identity as well as my own have been compromised. I need a team to go after a man named Wilbur Soot."

"Techno here, heard you loud and clear. Proceed with caution and I will send a team out to detain him."

Jude looked off to the side where a bundle of clothes sat, presumably his. He squinted his eyes, then began to freak out. "My badge and my gun are gone!" He pushed himself up onto his elbows. "Help me up. Some fucker took my badge!"

Geo extended his hand and pulled Jude off of the floor, awkwardly holding him until he could keep his own balance. Jude took a step forward, but nearly fell over in his heels. "One second, I'm reaching for my gun. The next, I feel a sharp pain on the back of my head and I'm suddenly on the ground. Whoever did this was after my badge."

"Why would Wilbur want your badge?" Geo asks.

Jude let go of Geo and carefully walked to the table with his clothes on it. "I don't know, but I have a feeling he wasn't the one after my badge." He grabbed his hoodie and slid it over the bright pink tank top he wore. "This whole thing is weird. Why would Wilbur come in, shoot the ceiling, threaten you, then leave?"

"Because I had back up," Jude explains. "He came alone and he probably panicked when he realized that you were with me."

"There's no way he was alone! Someone took your badge!"

"Maybe he didn't know he wasn't alone," Jude whispers. "Where's Agent Angel?"

Geo peeks out from the back of the stage to see him leaving with Strawberry, the two chatting as they went. "He left with one of your dancer friends. You think he was working with Wilbur?"

"Sort of. I think they are both working for the same guy, but I don't think they know it. At least, Wilbur doesn't. And Wilbur obviously didn't want to do whatever just happened. He was being forced into it." Jude slid his baggy sweatpants over his leather ones and slipped out of his heels and into sneakers. He rubbed the back of his head one last time, then began walking out from backstage.

In the area in front of the stage, cops had notepads and were talking to the few people that were too scared to move when Wilbur walked in. Geo and Jude walked past them with ease, showing their badges as they went. Geo hit the button on his keys to unlock his car door, but stopped when they heard Jake begin to talk over their earpieces.

"Agents, stay where you are. We are picking you up." They both turn around just as their black van pulls up. The back doors swing open and both George and Dylan help them in.

Geo first noticed how tense Clay was. It wasn't normal to see him on edge. He then noticed that Dylan kept glancing over at him like he was scared. George also seemed scared, but not of Clay. He even had a handgun attached to his hip. "What's going on?"

"Well, a couple things," Jake answers. "During the shit-show of a family meeting we had, Zak got into it with Clay over his parenting skills, so now Dylan is going to live with him and Darryl for a week. I taught George how to shoot and, while he doesn't have the best aim yet, he is competent enough with it to get by for this mission. Dylan has been talking to that other team of agents who has Sapnap and Fundy helped us locate them. Now, we are going to go help him."

Jude twirls a long strand of blonde hair in his fingers. "I assume this means I don't have time to get changed?"

Clay tosses a backpack at him. "You can change here. Also, your makeup bag is in there." Jude giggles as he opens up the bag, pulling out the small makeup bag with his new tools in it.

To Geo, it was weird seeing George suited up for the mission. He wore all black and had one of their bulletproof vests on. Instead of a backpack on his back, he had his scooter with him, folded up nicely. "You going to be alright George?"

"I don't know," George admits. "But I don't matter right now. What matters right now is saving Sapnap."

———

Word Count: 3131

As you know by now, I do have a discord and the link is below. I also made a special server that is only available to people you join my discord which gives readers access to Dylan's text messages he send throughout the story. They are constantly updated and provide a side story to Bang and Burn, so join my discord for access!

https://discord.gg/frqWfzf

I also have a Twitter now! You can follow me for story updates as well as to send/see any fanart I receive. I love talking to you guys, so drop a follow and let me know you're a reader and I'll follow you back! You can find me at:

@App13_Juice

Love you guys!!!

Published: August 26


	27. Chapter 25

Nick struggled to keep his eyes open. He felt dead. Every little move he made only sent pain coursing through his veins. He couldn't tell what time it was anymore after being stuck in the dark room for so long. In the darkness, he could faintly make out the table he had been waterboarded on. His lungs were still sore from holding his breath for so long. He could also see the whip known as "The Cat of Nine Tails" sitting on the floor. It was a special kind of whip with nine separate ropes branching out from the base, each one holding a metal ball at the end of it. While he couldn't see it, he knew there was blood on the floor. He could smell it, which only made him more nauseous. While it had been used on his back, one of the ropes swung up and hit him in the face, leaving a sizable gash against his right cheek. His vision was also blurry in his right eye, so it wouldn't surprise him if getting hit had something to do with that.

But what killed him the most was the fact that he was told that Zak was dead. He had to mourn his teammate's death while being beaten to near death. He couldn't even begin to fathom the pain that the others were going through. All he could do was hope that help was on its way. Nick did not have much longer.

The only door to the room opened up, casting everything in a low, orange glow. Though the light wasn't harsh, it still killed Nick's eyes. At this point, any sort of light would blind him. Three people stepped inside, all talking with each other about something that had nothing to do with his torture. He had trouble focusing on what they were saying but could make out something about a new victim that would soon be killed in their own home. The main guy that was doing most of the talking seemed way too happy to be killing someone. Before Nick's eyes could adjust to the light enough to see them, a bright studio light was turned on and sat right in front of him, leaving the other three people in the room as nothing more than silhouettes.

The man that was doing most of the talking sat right behind the light, his whole body being lost in shadow. "Hello, Agent Sapnap." Nick forced himself to open his eyes. To the left of the man was Agent Angel Dust, who had done a majority of the torturing himself. The bastard even seemed to enjoy himself. On the other side of the speaker was someone that Nick could barely see. All he knew was that their long dark hair hung past their shoulders. "Do you know why you're here?"

"No," Nick admitted. "Your friends here have been beating the shit out of me for no reason."

"We're making an example out of you." Nick was disgusted by the fact that the man didn't sound at all bothered by the torture that occurred. "Your friends stuck their noses in places they shouldn't have. They were told to stop. Now, they will see what happens when you keep pushing. Straw?"

The figure with the long hair stood up. "Yes sir?" Nick felt even sicker than before. Not only was Jude's friend and coworker helping the enemy, Nick thought he liked them. Now, he felt the sudden urge to hurt them as much as he had been hurt.

"I need you to go fetch Ambxon," the man replied. "Tell them that it's time to finish their mission."

Straw nodded and walked out of the room, their heart beating out of their chest. They walk into the room across the hall from the previous one, wanting to cry. Inside, the agents in the room were not doing well at all. Sprite paced the room, anxiously biting her knuckles, while Avocado watched her, twiddling a small throwing knife between their fingers. Feni, Thundah, and Amb all sat at the same table as Avocado with Dylan's old earpiece in the middle of them. Thundah was tinkering with the earpiece, doing everything she could to hook it up the laptop beside her. Everyone froze when they saw Straw walk in.

Straw's eyes fell on Amb. "The boss wants you to finish your mission."

Amb's eyes became cloudy as his gaze drifted to his hands. "I can't hurt him anymore, Straw. I fucking can't."

"None of us can!" Thundah blurted out. "We've all taken turns slowly killing Nick for hours! HOURS! This wasn't how it was supposed to happen! We were supposed to go on a mission to watch over Wilbur and make sure he was doing what he was told, but that somehow turned into killing innocent agents that were just trying to do their jobs! FUCK THIS! FUCK ALL OF IT!"

Feni reached across the table and grabbed Thundah's hands. "Honey, I know this is hard. It's hard for all of us. But you saw what happened last time we didn't complete our mission. I'm not letting one of you get beaten again."

"Why do we have to be the ones to do this?" Sprite asked. "The boss has, like, 20 men here or something. Why can't they do it?"

"This is his way of teaching us a lesson too," Amb mumbled. "He's showing us that we could suffer the same fate if we aren't careful."

Straw looked over their shoulder, then back to Amb. "If you don't get out there, he's going to hurt you." They groaned. "I don't know why I let myself get caught up in this with a bunch of agents."

Amb shook his head. "I can't do it."

Avocado stood and threw their knife into the wall, whizzing by just an inch away from Amb's head. "Why? Why can't you fucking do what you were told?! This could've been over if you had just killed Fundy!"

"I CAN'T KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE, AVERY!" Calling Avocado by their real name was enough to shut them up, but they still looked at Amb with growing rage in their eyes. "You can't just tell me to shoot people and expect me to be able to go through with it."

Cat walked into the room, looking more pissed off than usual. "Amb, if you don't get in there, we'll all have hell to pay." He looked down at the earpiece. "Do you have it working yet? I don't know how much more of this I can handle."

A loud clicking sound plays, followed by Dylan's voice. "You're clear Dream. Proceed with caution. Agents? How are we looking?"

"Zelk here along the west wall. I'm alone."

"This is Spifey, the east wall is busy. It looks like some sort of loading dock over here. I may be able to get in."

"Mega to A6D? Updates?"

"I'm here. All is clear on the south wall."

Thundah smiled. "I did it! Feni, I fucking did it!"

"And they are here!" Sprite quietly cheered. "They can save Nick!"

"AMB?!" Their boss yelled from outside of the room. "NOW!"

Amb looked back at everyone else. "Remember the plan. Stall for me and help them get Nick back. Leave me if you have to."

Feni joins him by the door and squeezes his hand. "We'd never leave you."

Cat patted his back. "It's time, Amb." Amb took one last breath, then walked across the hall, Cat and Straw following right behind him.

When Amb opened the door, he had to do everything he could to keep from vomiting. The room smelt awful and Nick looked like he was already dead. Had it not been for his shallow breaths, Amb would've thought that his job was already done. Straw seemed to also been having a hard time seeing Nick. They weren't an agent, but after accepting a deal from their boss to watch Jude, they ended up becoming an honorary part of their team. Had Straw known that this was going to happen, they would've never taken the offer.

In the back corner of the room, their boss had a small, electric kettle that he was prepping. "I assume you three know why I wanted you in here."

"I don't know why I have to be here," Straw admitted quietly. "Or Cat for that matter."

Their boss looked at them, his dark eyes piercing through their souls. "You three have all broken my rules. Cat and Straw have both fallen for their enemies while Amb here couldn't take orders. Now, I'm going to show you what happens when you mess with me." He hit a button on the top of the kettle, then returned to his seat behind the bright studio light. "Straw, there is a table off to the side. Pick a razor blade and make a cut."

**TW: If acts of torture or someone begging for their life bothers you, please skip to the bolded text below this scene. Read at your own risk.**

Straw began breathing heavily. "Please don't make me do this! Please!" Their boss pulled his gun out and aimed it at Straw. They began hyperventilating, but still did what they were told. Straw approached the table to find multiple tools spread out on it. There were different blades, blunt objects, needles, and vials filled with mysterious liquids. They lifted a small blade and walked over to Nick, who looked like he could barely keep his eyes open.

Straw lowered their thin blade towards Nick's arm but stopped before they could break skin. Straw takes a step back and covers their mouth as they begin to cry, prompting Nick to look at them. "Just do it, Straw. Fucking do it."

"Nick, I-I....I'm sorry."

Just before the blade enters his arm, he looked her in the eye and growled, "I'll see you in hell." She dragged her blade across his bare forearm, then pulled the blade out as blood began pooling around the cut. She retreated into the darkness of the other side of the room, dropping the blade onto the floor. Nick didn't look at his fresh cut, but he could feel the blood drip down the side of his arm and onto the chair he was strapped into.

The boss chuckled. "Cat, your turn." Cat silently grabbed a blade for himself and made a quick cut on the opposite arm that Straw sliced. His cut was much faster, but in turn, wasn't as straight as the first one. It also hurt more. "Straw. Again," their boss demanded.

"Please don't make me do this!" Straw pleaded. Despite working for the enemy, Nick's heart still shattered listening to their pleads. "I'll do anything!"

"You lost your chance out of this when you didn't kill Agent Finnster. You were supposed to kill him, not knock him out!" The boss's voice was growing louder and more intimidating. "You will DO as you were TOLD! Make another cut before I cut you instead!" Straw picked their blade off of the ground and returned to Nick to make another cut. Straw and Cat took turns cutting slits into Nick's arms, each one hurting worse than the last. Eventually, both of his arms were covered in all sorts of cuts of varying shapes and sizes.

The door to the room opened as three men stepped in. "Sir! They're here!"

The boss growled. "Damn it. Stay here and make sure that Amb uses the kettle when it is ready. You know what its for." He then stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"The tea kettle?" Nick asked. "What is he talking about?" He then heard the kettle in the corner begin to whistle.

Amb walked over to it and carefully picked it up. "This is fucked up. I'm sorry, Nick. This is just an awful way to go."

Nick's heart began beating so loud that it was all he could hear. In training, one of the things they learned was different common items that could be used as weapons. Things like hairspray and lighters, frozen meat, and household tools could all be lethal if used correctly. But the one that Nick never thought he'd have to deal with was the one he was being threatened with. Boiling water was highly dangerous and could kill him if he was forced to drink it. His throat would swell and he'd die of suffocation.

Amb stepped closer to Nick. "Just please, try to hold on as long as you can. I don't want you to die."

"GET ON WITH IT!" One of the boss's men yelled.

Nick began to panic. He pulled against his restraints, but he was tied down too tightly to be able to move much. Amb grabbed a funnel from the table and held it out towards Cat, who took it, which only made Nick fill with even more dread than before.

"Please, don't do this. Please!" It killed Amb to hear Nick begging. If only he knew that Amb didn't want to hurt him. Nick looked at Straw. "You're going to let them do this?"

Straw looked away. "It's just business."

Cat laid his hand against Nick's forehead, pushing him so that his head was tilted up. Nick tried to push against him, but it was no use. "You can't do this! I'm not the bad guy! I can help you. Just please, please don't kill me." Nick felt himself beginning to sob. "You don't have to do this! I'll do anything!"

Cat opened Nick's mouth and placed the funnel inside. Nick continued begging for his life, but with the funnel in his mouth, it only sounded like a stream of broken sobs. Hot tears ran down the sides of his face as he prepared himself for his painful death.

**TW over! It's safe now.**

Amb approached Nick with the kettle, but froze when he heard Feni over his own earpiece. "Guys. George is in the hall. It's go time."

Amb immediately removed the kettle's lid, turned, and threw the kettle at one of the guard's head. The boiling water flowed all down the man as he screamed from the burns he was suffering from. While he panicked, Amb punched them in the jaw, making them fall to the floor. He snagged the guard's gun and opened fire against the other two guards, sending multiple bullets into their heads and chests. "Who sucks at shooting now, huh? Who can't complete a mission? Who is a fuck up? NOT. FUCKING. ME!"

Cat pried the gun from Amb's hands. "Amb! They are dead! STOP!"

By the time he got the gun out of his hands, Amb was smiling. "That felt amazing!" In the hall, they could hear gunshots and yelling as everyone barked orders at each other. "Give me the gun back. If I'm getting Straw out of here, I need a way to protect us."

Cat reluctantly handed the gun back over. "Just please don't go crazy."

"I promise!" Amb fired one last bullet into one of the guard's head. "Starting now. You go find Wilbur and I've got Straw. Let's just fucking hope that Sapnap's teammates don't fuck up their own plan in the meantime!"

Nick tilted his head down, allowing the funnel to fall out of his mouth. By the time he looked back up, the three people that were still alive had left with the door open. In an instant, he watched as George dove into the room, barely avoiding getting shot. He looked up at Nick and awkwardly waved. "Hey, Nick."

Nick nods his head. "Hey 404. You look like a real agent now, don't you?"

George shut the door and locked it, saying "404 to team. I've got him in the north wing," as he went. He grabbed a pair of scissors from the table to cut him free from the layers of zip ties around him, choosing to ignore the various injuries that Nick had all over him. He figured that now wasn't the time to freak out about injuries. "Can you walk?"

George helped Nick stand, but he quickly lost his balance. "Not well."

George nodded, then got back on his earpiece. "404 to Dream I need back-up."

Without missing a beat, Dream entered the room, a few bullet dents in his vest from being shot at. "What do you need?"

"Do you want to help Nick walk, or do you want to cover me?"

"I'll cover you," Dream decided. "Nick needs to be comforted by his best friend anyway." George silently agreed and wrapped one of Nick's bleeding arms around him, nearly gagging from touching the warm liquid dripping onto him now.

"Zelk to team. Stay in the room. The hall is almost clear!" After a few more shots were fired, Jake returned to say, "All clear. Let's get out of here while we still can!" Dream opened the door and pointed the gun outside of the room as George and Nick hobbled out together. At the end of the hall, Jake and Geo were both waiting, ready to help. The group carefully traveled back the way they came, eventually running into Vincent, who was busy causing chaos in another part of the building as a distraction.

"Dream to Mega. Bring the van around. We got him."

After walking for a few feet outside, Dylan comes pulling up with the van. He jumped out and popped open the back, allowing Geo to get into the driver's seat. He helped George lift Nick into the van as everyone else piled in around them. As soon as the van doors closed, Nick exhaled. He was safe.

———

Word Count: 2950

As you know by now, I do have a discord and the link is below. I also made a special server that is only available to people you join my discord which gives readers access to Dylan's text messages he send throughout the story. They are constantly updated and provide a side story to Bang and Burn, so join my discord for access!

https://discord.gg/frqWfzf

I also have a Twitter now! You can follow me for story updates as well as to send/see any fanart I receive. I love talking to you guys, so drop a follow and let me know you're a reader and I'll follow you back! You can find me at:

@App13_Juice

Thank you to my editors for being there while I wrote this. I struggled with writing this because I hate putting people through this sort of pain. Also, thank you guys for beta reading it! I know it wasn’t exactly the easiest chapter to edit, so I really appreciate you soso much. Keep being you, my lovelies!!! Love you guys!

One last thing! A very special thanks to my friend Strawberry! They’ve been a huge help when come up with ideas for the story. Without them, there would’ve never been OC’s in this story. They also let me bounce ideas off of them which helped me properly structure my story. I love you so much hun! You’ve been such a supportive friend and idk what I’d do without you! I love you!

Published: August 30th


	28. Chapter 26

George and Clay found themselves waiting in the same ER room from earlier when they brought Zak here. They felt the same fear and anxiety as before. While George was sure that Nick wasn’t going to die, he was still worried. It was one thing seeing his teammate hurt, but a whole different thing seeing his best friend hurt. He couldn’t believe that he was still alive by the time they got there.

Someone had helped them from the inside, but no one knew who.

A nurse came out with a clipboard and called, “George?” She looked up and motioned to the hall behind her when George stood up, Clay close behind him. The rest of Clay’s team was hanging out with Zak at the moment, deciding that it would be best to only have a few people with Nick at a time.

They followed the nurse down the hall and to the right, entering the second room on the right. Inside, Nick was laying on his stomach while another nurse wrapped his left arm up, his right arm already being wrapped. There was another man in there that Clay recognized to be the Forte psychiatrist who was usually called in to see how an agent is doing mentally after something traumatic. When Zak was shot, Darryl convinced everyone that he didn’t need someone to talk to, which ended up being true.

Nick, on the other hand, needed all of the help he could get.

“They took turns doing shit to me,” Nick recalled, a blank look on his face.

“Avocado was first. They were sent in to intimidate me. They threw knives at me, making sure that one grazed my body every once and a while. Then it was Thundah. She came in and injected me with some drug while she told me how she killed Zak. I’m just so thankful he’s alive. Then, Feni came in and waterboarded me, telling me that everything would be ok. After her was Angel, who tore up my back with his fucking whip. He then brought Straw in and the two cut me up and the grand finale was going to be when Ambxon killed me with boiling water. But when the place started getting invaded, they left before they could finish the job. Amb panicked and killed the other guards, I assume because he was trying to get out as fast as possible. I don’t know. I don’t remember much from the rescue.”

The psychologist’s phone went off, prompting him to stand up.

“Nick, we can continue this later. For now, I need to go take care of a few things. You have my number, so call me if you need me.”

Nick buried his head into his pillow. “Thanks, Callahan.”

As he passed by Clay, Callahan whispered, “Take care of him.”

“I don’t know him too well, but I’ll try.”

Callahan shook his head, then motioned to George, who had already sat in a chair by the bed. “I wasn’t talking about Agent Sapnap.” Without another word, Callahan stepped out of the room, answering his phone as he exited.

George had grabbed Nick’s hand, looking at him with a face full of concern. “How are you feeling?”

“Awful, but better.” He thanked the nurse as she finished wrapping his arm and watched her as she left with the other nurse that brought George and Clay in. As they left, Darryl walked in with a large dragon tattoo on his cheek with the words “dragon power” written under it. Despite the depressing weight everyone felt on their shoulders, they couldn’t help but crack a smile at him. George had to cover his mouth to keep from giggling.

Darryl, just as oblivious as always, walked over to Nick with a reassuring smile. “Hey there, agent. I’m glad to see you back.”

Nick pointed at Darryl’s cheek. “So, dragon power?”

Darryl snickered and looked away. “Yeah. It’s something that I promised Zak I would do.”

“Are you two a thing now?” Nick asked.

Darryl continued looking away, biting his bottom lip as he blushed. “Not yet.”

Nick grabbed his cup of water on the table beside him, stopping only to say, “I’m glad to have Skephalo back,” before sitting up to take a drink.

Dylan gently knocked on the door as he stepped inside, holding his phone against his chest. “Guys, Techno is on the phone. He wants to talk to all of us. I need to add you to the call, so answer when I call you.” He then slipped back out into the hallway, presumably to return to Zak’s room.

Just moments after, Clay’s phone rang. “Agent Dream. Agents 404, Sapnap, and Badboyhalo are here as well. Who’s speaking?”

“Clay, this is Technoblade. I believe the rest of your team is on the call as well as Agent Skeppy. I wanted to discuss what your next mission should be. Dream, as much as I would like to have your team return to your original mission, I believe your team is needed alongside Badboyhalo’s team. I want you all to work together to locate the agents that took Agent Sapnap.”

“It won’t be that easy, sir,” Dylan stated. He sounded a bit nervous, which threw George off. He was confident, so to hear him so unsure of himself was a little weird, to say the least. “These agents know what they are doing. They’ve been able to fly under our radar for a long time.”

“But you’ve been in contact with them, yes?” Techno asked.

George felt Dylan hesitate through the phone. “Yes, sir.”

“And you have relationships with these agents, correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“Then I don’t see any reason why this should be a problem for you, Agent Mega. If anyone can find them, you can. They are dangerous and need to be contained before any more damage is done.”

Zak then cleared his throat. “Yeah, Techno? I don’t think these agents are as dangerous as they seem. I helped train them. I know who they are and they don’t seem like the kind of people to do this.”

“Agent Skeppy, you were shot and nearly died due to a hacked anesthetic machine. They also took and tortured Nick. I’m sure if you ask him, he won’t agree with you.” George watched as Nick thought long and hard about what Technoblade said. He didn’t even attempt to hide the inner struggle on his face. “I need you all to understand that your past relationships with agents cannot influence the mission at hand. I want you to find those agents. You have two days to find them and bring them in for questioning. Until then, I expect you to all be professional and do your jobs as I will do mine. Talk later.” Technoblade ended the call, kicking everyone else off as well.

Clay slowly lowered his phone to his pocket, keeping his eyes fixed on Nick, who was still thinking. “Hey man, what’s going on?”

“I wish I could remember what happened before George came into the room.” Nick covered his face with his hands, one of which was wrapped in the same bandages as his arms. “I’m pissed, but I don’t know who to be pissed at which is making me even more pissed.” He groaned into his hands, then dropped them to his lap. “I need a drink.”

Darryl shook his head. “Not until the doctor clears you! That isn’t allowed in a hospital!”

Nick laughed dryly. “Chill, Darryl. Not like I can go anywhere anyway.”

One of the nurses from before returned to the room with a clipboard in her hand. “Visiting hours are over. I have to ask you all to leave.”

“NO!” Nick yells, startling everyone. His expression had gone from confusion to fear in half a second. “Please, let them stay. Please.”

The nurse hums as she considers his request, before finally saying, “Alright, but only two of you can stay. The couch pulls out into a bed, so you’ll have to share. And don’t make a big deal out of it, ok? We don’t usually allow more than one visitor to stay the night, but I can make an exception for you guys.” She turned to leave, but stopped, turning back to talk to Darryl. “Pudding man is with you, right?”

Darryl giggled, then responded, “Yes, the pudding man is mine.”

“He can have two visitors as well.”

Without missing a beat, Darryl looked up at Clay. “Dylan can stay the night with us. I’ll let you three have this room.”

Clay stood up and grabbed Darryl before he could leave. “Are you sure? If you want to stay here, I don’t mind rooming with Zak.”

Darryl removed Clay’s hand from his arm as he said, “We can catch up tomorrow. I’ve got someone special waiting for me, anyway.” They both smiled at each other in understanding as Darryl left.

George removed the cushions from the couch, revealing a metal handle for him to pull. He grabbed it and pulled up and out, allowing the mattress to fold out. He then stepped away from it and bit his knuckle as he looked at the bed. It wasn’t very big at all, which made him nervous.

“I can take the floor,” Clay offered, also looking at the bed. “I don’t mind.”

George shook his head. “We don’t have enough blankets for that.”

“I’ll just lay on the floor. It’s no big deal.”

“GUYS,” Nick groaned. “Just sleep in the fucking bed. Please. I don’t want to listen to this.”

Clay rubbed the back of his head as he glanced at the bed again. “I don’t want to make George uncomfortable.”

“You two fucked, went on dates, kissed, and now work together. You can’t just act like adults for one night?” Nick grabbed one of his pillows and threw it at Clay. “Now act like the top you are and get your ass in the bed.” Clay awkwardly stared at Nick as George began snickering. “Am I missing something?” George finally lost it and fell onto the mattress laughing as Clay found himself at a loss for words. Finally connecting the dots, Nick asked, “You didn’t top, did you?”

“I topped,” Clay mumbled.

George stopped laughing just long enough to say, “Yeah, for the first half.”

Nick gagged and covered his face. “I did not need to know that. Just go the fuck to bed before I kill you both.”

“Oh, I’d like to see you try, panda boy!” Clay taunted. He fell onto the mattress, not being able to find any more energy to fight about the sleeping situation. George hesitantly climbed in beside him, sticking as close to the edge as possible. “So, where do you think WIlbur is?”

“What?” George asked.

“He ran off after trying to kill Jude and no one has been able to find him. I don’t know what the hell is going on with him. I would’ve never thought he’d be someone we’d have to look out for.”

“We will find him,” George reassured. “I’m sure there is a good explanation for all of this.”

Not too far away from the hospital, it began to lightly rain. Thin clouds of mist began to cover every inch of the street, making it harder for Forte patrol units to find the man that had nearly killed an agent. Wilbur used this to his advantage, now having a reason to keep his hood up in public. He’d flinch every time a car drove by, expecting it to be someone from Forte...or worse. Wilbur walked into a small diner that he and his partner picked to be their meet-up and settled into one of the booths. After being on the run for a few hours, he was exhausted. And finding out that two of his friends were Forte agents didn’t help at all. It made him begin to wonder if any of his other friends were agents too, which just made his head pound even more. He just wished that for once, just once, he could go a day without having to watch his back. Wilbur flinched when he heard the familiar ring of the bells on the door, knowing exactly who just walked in.

Wilbur kept his gaze fixed on his hands as Cat, known as Agent Angel Dust to Forte, slid into the seat across from him. He couldn’t bear looking at him, knowing he had killed an innocent agent. “Was his death quick?”

“No.”

Wilbur looked up. “You promised me you’d make it quick.”

Cat grabbed Wilbur’s hands. “He didn’t die. His friends came for him.”

“So the plan worked?”

Cat cracked a smile. “Yeah. Thundah was able to get one of his teammate’s earpieces working so we knew when they were coming.”

“You’ve got Jude’s badge, right?”

Cat reached into his back pocket and tossed Jude’s leather badge onto the table. “Yep. We’re so close to being free, Will. So close.”

Wilbur lowered his head, letting his hair fall into his face. “Cat, I’m so scared.”

“Hey, I’m here for you.” Cat lifts one of his hands and places a gentle kiss on his knuckles. “We’re a team. You can count on me.”

Wilbur let out a staggered breath. “Thank you, Cat.”

“Anything for you.” Cat released Wilbur’s hands and stood up. “I’m going to grab us a milkshake. When I’m back, we can come up with our new plan. Let’s just hope they leave the hospital soon.”

Wilbur nodded as Cat left. “Yeah. Hope.”

———

Word Count: 2258

I’m back! I’m not dead! I’m feeling great!

Join my discord! Just did a server reset and I love it and I’m sure you will too!

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Follow me on Twitter! I haven’t used it much, but I’ll be using it a lot more now! Woooooo!

@App13_Juice

I also have an Instagram now, so go give me a follow!

@app1e.juice

I hope to see you guys on my socials!!! 💕

Published: September 17th


	29. Chapter 27

Dylan opened the door to Nick's room as he began to say, "Hey, brought you guys breakfast!" But before he could get halfway through what he planned on saying, he gagged at the sight of George and Clay pressed together in the middle of the mattress they slept on. He was glad that they seemed to be on better terms, but it was too early in the morning for him to deal with this. Dylan threw the bag of breakfast sandwiches at them. "Get the fuck up and eat. We've got work today."

Clay rubbed his eyes as he looked at the bag in his lap. He then saw George in his arms and froze. He wanted to push him away. He wanted to get up and pretend like it didn't happen. But Clay couldn't bring himself to wake George up. He just looked so peaceful and content. So perfect. Clay slowly reached for the bag and grabbed one of the wrapped sandwiches and undid the paper wrapping with one hand, refusing to pull his other arm out from under George.

Dylan walked over to the bag and grabbed one, tossing it to Nick, who was on his phone texting someone. "Eat man. You need your strength back."

"I know." Nick unwraps the sandwich. "I need every ounce of strength possible so I can get back to work today."

"Wait, what?" Dylan asked.

"Techno said he'd clear me from the hospital so I can get back to work ASAP."

Clay scoffed quietly. "Seriously? I swear, he's such an asshole. You need time to rest and heal."

"No, I need to get back to work."

"Nick, you need to lay low for a while!"

"Clay?" George asked as he yawned. "What's going on?" Unlike Clay, George didn't seem to notice Clay holding him. At least, he didn't draw attention to it.

Dylan leaned against the bed. "This idiot thinks he's going back to work because Technoblade said so."

"No, Dylan, I said so! I asked if he could clear me and Zak so we could return to the mission."

Dylan's jaw dropped. "You WHAT?!" Nick grabbed his water cup, but Dylan smacked it out of his hands, sending the cup flying into Clay's lap, spilling the water down his leg. "NICK! Who gave you the RIGHT to say Zak is ready to leave?! Does he even know?"

"No, Dylan. I haven't told him yet."

Dylan bit his bottom lip as he shook his head at Nick. "You're just like Technoblade, you know? You just do whatever the hell you want, no matter who it may hurt."

Nick leaned forward in his bed. "Stand down, agent. You shouldn't be starting shit with me."

Before Dylan could move closer to Nick, Clay let go of George and stood in between the two. "Dylan, I know you're pissed, but fighting about it isn't going to change a thing."

"Why did you include Zak anyway?" George asked. "He nearly died, Nick. He should be allowed to take more time."

"The same gremlins did this to us. We are both going to receive the justice we deserve."

They then hear someone clear their throat in the doorway of the room. They look up to see Zak leaning against the open door, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose tee shirt that seemed to be a size or two too big. "So I have you to thank for this, Nick?"

Darryl entered the room with a bag of clothing. He tossed it onto Nick's bed. "Techno came by and dropped this off for you, saying that you and Zak were to report to the offices today with the rest of us."

Dylan's phone buzzed in his pocket as he got a new text. His eyes widening was the only indication that the text was important. "You guys stay here. I need to take a private call in the hallway." Dylan walked out of the room as he dialed a number into his phone. Zak stepped into the room, allowing Dylan to close the door behind him.

Zak clutched his lower abdomen as he walked, not even trying to hide the pain he was in. "So, Nick, please tell me why you told Techno to get us checked out. I'm fucking curious."

"Language!" Darryl yelled. "Zak, I know you're mad, but this won't help anything. All you can do is take care of yourself while you heal."

"You know how Techno can be," Nick explained as he slowly crawled out of his bed. "If we don't get back to work, he'll punish us."

"I WAS FUCKING SHOT, NICK! I NEARLY DIED! And yet all you care about is Techno. What has Dave ever done to deserve the respect you give him?" Zak waited for Nick to respond, but was only met with a cold, blank stare. "Just because he pays your bills doesn't mean you have to worship him like a god."

"I don't worship him, Zak. He's a hard working man and I don't think he gets enough credit."

Zak scoffed. "Right. It must be pretty hard sitting safe in an office all day, counting your money stacks, while people of all ages risk their lives to do your dirty work." He opened the door just as Dylan finished with his phone call and staggered out of the room.

Nick shook his head as he stood. "Some people just never grow up, do they?" Nick then left for the bathroom so he could change into his street clothes.

"Dang, I really hope they're okay," George whispered as he stood up from the mattress.

"They'll be fine!" Darryl reassured him. "They don't see eye to eye when it comes to anything about Technoblade, but they get over it eventually. In the meantime, I think it's best if we kept them separated. They both need time to recover mentally and I don't think any sort of fight would help with that."

"Great!" Dylan shouted. "That's terrific because I need to run to the office to grab something of mine that I left. I'll take Clay, George, and Nick with me. Darryl, take everyone else out to lunch or something. We can meet up later to discuss a plan for finding the rogue agents."

"Have you tried talking to them at all?" Clay asked.

"Not since we got Nick back. They won't respond to me. Honestly, I don't blame them. I'd keep running if I was in danger." Dylan's phone buzzed, prompting him to type out a quick text.

"Has anyone been able to find Wilbur yet?" George asked.

Dylan froze for a second as he continued to look at his phone screen. "Nope. We should get going." Dylan then walked out of the room, forgetting the fact that Nick was still in the bathroom.

"I'll wait for Nick," Clay told George. "You go with Dylan and make sure he doesn't take off."

"I don't think Nick would be happy if I left him."

Clay grabbed George's hand and squeezed it, looking deep into his eyes. "I promise you, everything is going to be okay. I promise." When he let go of George's hand, George found himself staring at the wall, not knowing how to process the gesture. His hand felt so much colder without Clay's. He walked out of the room, hoping that the feeling would go away, but as he caught up with Dylan, he realized that it wouldn't leave him.

George looked over Dylan's shoulder to try and read his texts, but Dylan quickly pulled away and glared at him. "Can I help you?"

George bit the inside of his cheek, instantly regretting his actions. "Sorry. You just seem really suspicious and I was worried about you."

Dylan groaned. "I already have Clay, Darryl, and Zak all attempting to parent me. I don't need a fourth dad."

"Why not? Having four dads seems quite epic to me!"

Dylan stopped walking and glanced up at George. "I went eight years without a dad. I didn't need four guys to try and fill his place."

George was finding it hard to talk to him. Not only was he an awkward person as it was, he now brought up a subject that seemed uncomfortable for Dylan to be in. "Hey, I'm sorry if I overstepped or anything. I was just worried about you."

Dylan let out a long exhale. "Thanks for being concerned, I guess. I just don't want to talk about him much. I'm not ready for that. When your favorite person in the world gets murdered, you learn to shut that side of your life down for good."

"Is that why you and your mom have a strained relationship?"

Dylan thought about it for a second, only able to respond with, "It's complicated." He pulled out the keys to Clay's car and hit the unlock button, quickly jumping into the passenger seat before George could have the chance to object. George climbed into the seat behind him, deciding it'd be best to let Dylan sit in silence. He had no idea how to communicate with a teenager at all.

After what felt like half an hour of waiting, George saw Nick and Clay walk towards the car. The two were both engaged in a conversation that they seemed passionate about. George was eager to listen to their conversation after sitting in awkward silence for so long. But, as Clay opened the door to the driver's seat, George decided he'd rather sit in silence. Nick had found the only person willing to listen to him rambled over his latest obsession.

"I'm telling you, carbonated melon milk fucking SLAPS, man!" George was happy to see him smiling again, but he had listened to Nick go on about his melon milk for so long that he was tired of the topic.

Clay, on the other hand, seemed to be quite excited to hear about what Nick had to say. "I'd love to try it, but I don't even know where to buy this stuff."

"Dude, I have some in my van at the office. While Dylan does his thing, I'll hook you up!" Nick crawled into the back seat, trying his best not to let his back touch the seat. He didn't seem to care much about his arms, so George figured that underneath his hoodie sleeves were wrappings that kept his cuts covered. George couldn't begin to process how painful it must feel for him right now, so instead of saying anything, George decided it'd be best to stay silent during the car ride to the office.

Before the car could even slow to a stop, Dylan jumped out of the car and ran straight into the building. Everyone was puzzled by his urgency, especially Clay, who quickly parked the car.

Clay pulled the keys out of the ignition, looking towards the entrance to Forte. "He's hiding something. I'm going on after him."

Clay started to get out of the car, but George quickly unbuckled and grabbed him. "Maybe he just needs space?"

"I'm suspicious of him too," Nick admitted. "I mean, what idiot talks to the enemy?"

"He may do dumb things, but he's not an idiot," Clay stated as he climbed out of the car. George and Nick exchanged a quick glance, then both got out to follow Clay in.

The three quickly made their way to the elevator on the right and Clay scanned his badge to gain access to the third floor. When the elevator opened, they could hear voices talking loudly from the conference room at the end of the hall.

"Dylan, if he finds out we're here, we're dead!" Afamiliar voice shouted.

"I know, I know!" Dylan yelled back. "Here's the keys to the team apartment in this building. Just keep a low profile until I can convince the others that you aren't dangerous."

Upon hearing Dylan's response, Clay drew his gun and motioned for George and Nick to stay behind him and against the wall. He slowly stepped towards the room as the conversation continued.

"They won't trust us no matter what you tell them! I had to steal Jude's badge to get in here in the first place. He's going to kill me!"

Dylan sighed. "I know you're scared, but you can trust me. I promise."

As soon as they were close enough, Clay pushed the door open and aimed his gun into the room. But when he saw who was at the other end of his barrel, he had no idea what to do. "What are you doing here?"

At the other end of his gun was Wilbur, who looked terrified. By his side was Cat, one of the agents that hurt Nick. Their hands were locked together as they stared at Clay, waiting for him to pull the trigger. To everyone's surprise, he didn't. He lowered his gun, unable to move.

Nick, on the other hand, was ready to kill Cat. As soon as he realized who was in front of him, he tried to lunge forward to attack him. George managed to stop him and Dylan jumped in to help keep him from attacking. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" He thrashed around, but ended up calming down due to his hurt arms.

Clay looked at Dylan, anger growing in his eyes. "Start talking, Dylan. Why are they here?"

———

Word Count: 2232

Join my discord! Just did a server reset and I love it and I'm sure you will too!

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Follow me on Twitter! I haven't used it much, but I'll be using it a lot more now! Woooooo!

@App13_Juice

I also have an Instagram now, so go give me a follow!

@app1e.juice

Published: September 21st


	30. Chapter 28

A/n- Publishing two chapters today bc I've been eagerly waiting to introduce some new characters. I hope you all enjoy!!!

"Ok, I know this looks bad," Dylan calmly stated as he placed himself between everyone. "Give me a minute of your time and I can explain everything."

Though Nick wasn't moving, he still looked like he was ready to kill something. "Dylan, you fucking invited two criminals into Forte."

"Technically, we weren't invited in," Cat corrected. He pulled Jude's badge out of his back pocket. "We needed to borrow this to get in and up the elevator. You may want to return it." He handed it to Dylan, who then handed it to Clay. "We didn't mean to scare you. We were just told that Dylan could help us."

"Who told you that?" Clay asked.

"Agent Sprite," Wilbur answered. "She trusts Dylan quite a lot."

Clay looked over at Dylan as he looked away, his face turning red. "Agent Sprite? Who's that?"

"She's just one of the agents we are after," Dylan mumbled. "She's cool."

Nick scoffed. "I'm pretty sure she was there when I was taken. She is anything but cool."

Dylan crossed his arms. "You don't know her like I do, Nick."

"But you don't know her at all, Dylan!" Nick was getting even more fired up than before. "She kidnapped me! She tortured me! FUCK HER, DYLAN!"

"Last I remember, she didn't hurt you, did she?" Dylan questioned. He stared Nick down, determined to be just as intimidating as he was. Nick's eyes peered into Dylan's soul, making his chest burn, but he wasn't about to show that it bothered him.

Nick finally looked away. "No, she didn't do anything to me."

Dylan smirked. "Thought so."

Clay cleared his throat, gathering everyone's attention. "So, why are you two here? You better give me a damn good reason before I call Technoblade to remove you two."

"NO!" Wilbur screamed. "Please. I'm begging. I'll tell you everything that you need to know, but Techno will serve our asses on a silver platter if he finds out two criminals are in here. You need to swear that you won't tell anyone that we are here."

"Ok, answer this for me," Clay started, "How are you two involved in everything going on? You're obviously after us for some reason and if you expect me to talk to you, I deserve to know what's going on."

Wilbur clenched his jaw as his eyes started welling up with tears. Cat noticed this and grabbed his hand. "It's okay, Will. This is our way out. Everything will be okay." Cat pecked his cheek. "You've got this, love." George and Clay both wanted to question Wilbur about his relationship with Cat, but they knew that now wasn't the time. Instead, they impatiently waited for Wilbur to start talking.

"I killed them," Wilbur started, "All twelve of the victims died at my hands." Clay's jaw dropped and Nick started shaking, both ready to attack Wilbur. "But Clay, you need to know that I'm not the enemy here. You're going to need my help if you expect to win this."

Unable to contain his anger, Clay charged at Wilbur and pinned him against the wall. Clay gritted his teeth as he wound up his fist to punch Wilbur. "You ruined EVERYTHING! You killed innocent people and ruined my career. I trusted you, but I guess I was wrong." He then threw a punch at Wilbur, but Dylan caught his fist before he made contact.

"Clay, that's enough!" Dylan yelled. "He wants to help! Just hear him out!"

Cat placed a hand on Clay's shoulder. "Please, listen to us." Clay let go of Wilbur and whipped around to hit Cat in the stomach. Cat stumbled backward and right into Nick, who then broke free from George to attack Cat. He pinned Cat to the ground, finally letting all of his emotions explode out of him. He began throwing punch after punch until George managed to pull him off.

Wilbur wasn't much better off. Clay punched him in the nose so hard that Dylan could hear it pop as it began to bleed. Dylan tried to pull Clay away, but couldn't. He was just too strong. Deciding he only had one last choice, he pulled out his handgun and pressed it against Clay's head. "One more move and I shoot you."

"Dylan," Clay said calmly, "What are you doing?"

"Step away from Wilbur now."

Clay removed his hands from Wilbur and took a few slow steps back. "Dylan, you're one of them, aren't you?"

Dylan gave him a confused look. "Excuse me?"

"It all makes sense now! That's why you were so comfortable with them! You don't warm up to people, so it would only make sense that you started talking with the rogue agents because you already work with them! That also explains why you can defend Wilbur and Cat right now. No one in their right mind would ever do the shit that you did unless they were an enemy too." Clay shook his head. "I should've known."

Dylan lowered his gun. "Okay, seriously, are you done building your conspiracy theory now? Cause that is the most idiotic thing I think I've EVER heard you say." He returned his gun back to its holster. "Let's not lose our heads here. I get that this may be a bit confusing, but if you hear me out, it'll all make sense."

"Oh fuck you, Dylan," Nick growled. "You don't get to be a shady-ass bitch and expect us to trust you."

"I've given you no reason not to trust me!" Dylan yelled, defending himself. "Tell him, Clay!"

Clay looked at Dylan for what felt like an eternity. "I don't know if I can, Dylan." In one moment, all of the confidence Dylan had in himself was gone. He could feel himself growing numb. By helping out people who were in danger, his own team was beginning to trust him less and less.

But, George was quick to come to his defense. "I trust Dylan. He's given me no reason not to. He's trying to do the right thing here."

"Helping two people who are considered enemies break into the office isn't the 'right thing', George," Clay stated quietly. "I really want to trust him, but I don't know if I can."

"What can I do to prove that I'm innocent?" Dylan waited as Clay thought to himself for a moment.

Clay could only answer with a shrug. "You won't be leaving my side until I know you are safe to be around."

"Well, Zak is out of the hospital now, so I'll be by his side for a few days." Dylan crossed his arms, his usual confidence returning. "Looks like you'll have to get him to watch me."

Clay rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Nick, call for someone to come get these two and get them locked away in solitary until we can interrogate them." He looked at his watch. "Shit, we need to get going soon. We need to find those other rogues."

"I can tell you where they are!" Wilbur blurted out. "You need to get to them fast if you expect to talk to them. If you wait too long, they will be dead before you get there."

Nick narrowed his eyes. "Why would they be dead?"

"We all work for a man that wants us dead for helping you," Cat explained, just as a few men came into the room, ready to escort them away.

"Right, sure." Clay pulled out his phone to begin writing a text to Darryl.

"Clay, listen to me," Wilbur pleaded. "You need to go find them. They are at the cafe that George and I were at earlier. Please, you need to get to them before it is too late."

Just as the two were pulled out of the room, Clay's phone went off in his hand.

**Darryl**

_Those agents are here. You need to come quick. Zak is freaking out and everyone is ready to kill these kids. We're at the same cafe. I'll send you the address._

Clay couldn't believe what he read. Wilbur had given away their position before Darryl said anything. Maybe he wasn't as bad as Clay believed he was. Clay told the others what Darryl said and the four quickly rushed to the car and out of the parking garage, ready to capture the agents.

Feni was the first to walk out of the cafe, holding a small disposable cup in her hands. Behind her, Avocado and Sprite walked out, then Thundah. The last one out was Ambxon, who looked terrified. The five were observant as they walked, but not observant enough. As they passed by the alleyway beside the cafe, the agents pulled them over and pinned them to the ground. Dylan wrestled with Amb as he tried to grab the handcuffs hanging from his pants, carefully enough to not hurt his already hurt hand. As he did so, he and Amb quickly got into an argument.

"Let go of me freak!" Amb yelled. "Get your nasty ass hands off of me!"

"Stop squirming and this will be done quicker."

"Don't be such a fuckturd!"

"I may be a fuckturd, but at least I can get my missions done!"

Amb gasped. "You did NOT! At least I don't get pulled over every two seconds when I drive!"

"Don't fight him!" Feni begged Amb as Jake handcuffed her. "We already knew this would happen. Just please, do what they say." Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Thundah got handcuffed by Darryl while Zak watched, looking more scared of her than she was of him.

Beside her, Avocado was being restrained by Dream, who looked like he had his hands full. "THIS KID KEEPS SAYING HE'LL CUT ME! WHAT THE FUCK?!" Avocado didn't have a weapon, but they enjoyed scaring Clay.

George was off to the side, gently handcuffing Sprite. Though she had seemed so tough at the start, she was frozen. She even appeared to be holding her breath. George looked at her with concern in his eyes. "You okay?"

Sprite shook her head as tears began falling down her face. "I'm scared. I'm so scared, 404. I'm sorry for everything."

"George, don't talk to them!" Clay yelled as he finally managed to slip the handcuffs onto Avocado's wrists. "They're rogue agents who are not allowed to speak until their interrogation." He then noticed Sprite as she began panicking even more than before. "In fact, I think we'll start with her."

Dylan looked over his shoulder to see who Clay was referring to and immediately yelled, "NO! You can't do that to her! She's on the verge of a panic attack." He looked her in the eyes. "Anna? Look at me. I'm right here, okay? I promise nothing will happen to you. I've got your back."

"Take them to the van," Clay demanded as he stood back up. "Make sure they don't speak to each other and lock them up when you get to the office. You know the drill."

Geo came beside George and took Sprite out of his hands as she continued to panic. George felt bad for her. Seeing this side of her only humanized her even more, making it harder to imagine how much she hurt people. He walked over to Zak, who had his arms wrapped around his abdomen. "So, what happens now?"

"They get taken in for questioning." Zak watches as they walk away. "It's so weird seeing them again like this. I trained those kids, George. I got to know them and their stories. There's no way they're capable of such evil acts."

"Maybe they aren't?" George asked. "Wilbur said that they all work for the same guy, right? I have a feeling that this isn't their fault and they're scared of what would happen if they don't follow orders."

Zak stared off. "I hope so, cause watching them get punished for something like that would kill me more than anything. They deserve to be happy and feel safe."

"That's very kind of you to say, especially when they nearly killed you."

Zak smiled to himself. "I kind of want to thank those gremlins. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have a boyfriend right now."

...

George smirked. "Boyfriend?"

Zak motioned to Darryl. "Boyfriend."

———

Word Count: 2051

Join my discord! Just did a server reset and I love it and I'm sure you will too!

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Follow me on Twitter!

@App13_Juice

I also have an Instagram, so go give me a follow!

@app1e.juice

Published- October 1st


	31. Chapter 29

"So, Agent Sprite, who do you work for?" Nick paced around the interrogation room, asking the girl question after question, only to be met with silence and tears every time. Sprite was a nervous wreck and couldn't hide it no matter how hard she tried. After an hour of sitting in the room alone, she was finally reaching her breaking point. Skeppy had already tried his music tactic, but when that failed, he tried talking to her like a teacher would talk to a student who was failing their class. He told her that he wanted to help, but that she needed to put in work too. His words had only made things worse, triggering her to start hyperventilating.

Dylan watched hopelessly behind the glass, along with everyone else who wasn't a part of the interrogation. "Clay, just let me in there! She'd talk to me. I know she would!"

Clay sighed. "Dylan, no. I _will not_ let you in there until we know for sure that you don't work with them."

"I literally have no life outside of Forte," Dylan explained. "I don't even have time for friends! When would I have time to join their weird gang they have going on?"

"I don't know," Clay admitted. "Still figuring that one out."

Dylan shot up out of his seat. "Clay, this is bullshit and you know it. I'm going to go grab a snack and you better be chill when I come back."

As he left the room, Clay called out to him, "Don't leave the building and don't get recognized!" Dylan didn't respond. He just kept walking to the elevator. He was pissed that Clay would ever suspect him of working for the enemy. He made his way to the other elevator and hit a random button, not paying attention to where he was going. Dylan just wanted to take a break from everything going on. The only thing he was focused on was not getting recognized. He was not ready to come up with a story as to why he, an old trainee who was "fired" a long time ago, was still in the building.

Dylan quietly walked into the cafeteria, keeping his head down and eyes on the floor. Thankfully for him, the only other person in there was a tall teenager with brown curly hair. He was standing at the counter that was covered in various meats, cheeses, veggies, and breads. He was holding his phone up to his face mumbling under his breath about something Dylan couldn't quite hear. Dylan kept his head down and walked over to the vending machine and pulled his debit card out, ready to grab something to eat. After selecting a bag of chips, he swiped his card, only to get an error message. He growled and tried again, only to get the same error. Before he could swipe it a third time, a voice from right behind him startled him.

"The card reader is broken," the brown-haired boy stated. "You have to use cash."

Dylan began to panic. Not because he didn't have cash, but because he recognized the guy from training. It was Roo, otherwise known as Agent Taco. Dylan could've sworn that he was wearing the same yellow sweater and light blue jeans he wore the last time they had seen each other. His white vans were still just as bright as they were back then. And, judging by Roo's perplexed expression, he could tell that he had a lot of explaining to do.

"Dylan? What are you doing here? Weren't you, like, fired or something?"

"I was, but I was called back to do a job." Dylan studied Roo's face, hoping that his explanation was convincing enough.

Roo slowly nodded. "Right, ok. If you'll excuse me, I have six sandwiches to make."

"Why?"

Roo returned to his spot to the counter and resumed making sandwiches as he spoke. "I'm the designated food runner for my team. I made everyone a sack lunch one time as a joke, but then it became our thing. We have a late-night tonight, so I'm making everyone dinner." Roo pulled out two pieces of bread and gagged as he placed a slice of cheese over one of them. "I'm going to kill Grayson, I swear. Peanut butter and cheese just do not go together. This is a crime against all sandwiches everywhere."

"Grayson still works here?!" Dylan asked, almost sounding too excited.

Roo picked up a knife to scoop out peanut butter, but couldn't will himself to do it. "I can't do this. Sorry, Gray. You're eating ham and cheese." He looked back towards Dylan and responded, "Yeah. We all graduated from training a few months ago and Techno put us on a team together. It's me, him, Maddie, Ray, Ciara, and Bugzie."

"Wait, you guys still don't know Bugzie's name?"

Roo shrugged. "You know how she is. She's always kept her private life private." He hit the intercom button on the wall in front of him. "Agent Taco. Clean up in the cafeteria on floor two. Thank you." He then shoved the sandwich into one of the six brown paper bags off to the side and attempted to grab them all in his hands. As he picked them up, one of them ripped, making it hard to carry. He groaned and set them back down on the counter. "Hey, Dylan? Could you help me take these to my team? They're just down the hall. I'm sure they'd like to say hi to you." Dylan walked over and grabbed three of the bags, then followed Roo out of the cafeteria and down the hall to the lab. As they got closer to the room, he could hear them talking loudly.

"Ciara, I need you to put the flamethrower down."

"Oh, come on, Maddie! I've worked really hard on this and you're going to love it! TRUST ME!" Ciara's words were followed by the screams of multiple people, but Roo didn't seem to be bothered at all by it. Roo opened the door to the lab as a cloud of smoke drifted out of the room. Inside, three people were coughing while one girl stood in the middle of the room, holding a large gun that was smoking at the end of the barrel. Roo walked in as if the scene was normal, stepping over a chair that had been flipped on its side.

Roo handed one of the sacks to a girl with short, brown hair, and glasses were black from the explosion. "Here you go, Maddie!" She took off her glasses and stared at the girl holding the flamethrower with a blank expression. Dylan couldn't tell what emotion she was feeling, but he knew the look all too well. It was the same look she gave him all the time during training. It was the kind of look that said, "What the fuck did you just do, you little shit?!" It scared him but made him want to laugh at the same time.

Roo then moved on to the young man sitting at a counter that was right in front of the girl with the flamethrower. His safety goggles were also black and his lab coat was dusted with ash. The flask that had been once sitting on the table in front of him was now shattered into hundreds of little pieces.

"Grayson, I'm sorry, but there was no way in HELL I was going to make you a peanut butter and cheese sandwich. That is a disgrace to the sandwich kind." He plopped the brown sack onto the table next to him. "You're getting a ham and cheese sandwich."

Grayson took the safety goggles off of his eyes and placed them against his forehead. He was also staring at the girl holding the weapon. He reached for the bag, refusing to take his eyes off of her, mumbling something about how good peanut butter and cheese sandwiches are.

Roo looked down at his final bag, then back up toward a guy sitting in the corner, nervously fidgeting with a dead lighter that looked older than he did. Roo tossed the brown bag at him as he said, "Eat up, Ray. We've got a long night of cleaning this stuff up now." He then looked around the room as if noticing the scene for the first time. "So, what happened this time?"

Maddie took her glasses and began rubbing the lenses against her maroon shirt. "Oh, the usual. Ciara made modifications to her flamethrower and thought it was a good idea to set it off in the same direction as the mixture Gray was messing with that was flammable."

"I warned you that it could cause an explosion, Maddie!" Gray reaches into his bag and pulls out his sandwich. "So now, not only did you blow up my mixture, but I was also refused my original sandwich order. Could this night get any worse?" He started to pull the sandwich out of its ziplock bag but stopped when he saw Dylan standing by Roo, holding three more brown sacks. "I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting to see you again, Dylan."

Dylan looked up from the bags in his hands and gave Grayson an awkward half-smile. "Yeah. Hey."

"WHAT'S UP, BITCH BOY?!" the girl holding the flamethrower yelled. She pulled the trigger, blowing flames into the air. Everyone except Roo and Dylan yelled all at once as Maddie rushed to take the flamethrower away from her.

"Ciara, no more fire for you!"

As Maddie walked away, Ciara pleaded, "Please let me at least hold it! I just finally got permission to make weapons and you are already taking away my main source of arson!"

Maddie turns around with the same expression as before. "You are grounded from arson."

"We're literally the same age."

"GROUNDED!" Maddie carefully set the flamethrower onto a counter behind her.

Roo, continuing his duty of passing out sandwiches, grabbed one of the bags and handed it to Ciara. He grabbed the next one, then looked around the room. "Where's Bugzie?"

"Technoblade needed her assistance again," Grayson explained. "You know how those two are."

Roo shrugged and swapped the bag he had for the last bag in Dylan's hand. "You can have hers if you want it. She probably won't be back for the rest of the night."

"Wait, Dylan, why are you even here?" Maddie asked.

"He's working on a mission apparently," Roo answered for him.

"What are you working on?" Ray asked.

Instead of just dodging the question or changing the subject, Dylan decided to tell them. After all, these guys were probably the closest thing he ever had to a friend group back in training. "I'm working on an assignment with Skeppy and his team. We're trying to interrogate someone, but because she trained with us, she seems to be immune to all of his tactics. She's used to him, I guess."

"Who is it?" Maddie asked.

"Do you guys remember Anna? She goes by Agent Sprite now. We've been trying to get her to talk for at least an hour, but we've got nothing so far and we're running out of time."

Grayson set down his sandwich and walked over to Dylan, removing the lab coat that was over his outfit. "What if we came and helped?"

Roo and Ciara both exchange a look of mischief, silently hyping each other up. "I think that's a great idea," Roo said, looking back at Dylan.

"But the lab is a mess!" Maddie exclaimed. "We need to clean up!"

"We can do that later!" Ciara cheered. "I say we take a break and go pay Anna a visit!" She walked out the door, Roo following close behind her with his brown sack in his hands. Maddie and Gray both stepped out into the hall, discussing their plans for after the interrogation. But unlike everyone else, Ray stayed back and continued messing with the lighter in his hand.

Dylan waited by the door for him but found himself also becoming distracted by the lighter. "What do you have there?"

Ray looked up in surprise. "Oh! Uh, it's kinda stupid I guess." He stopped messing with it and held his hand out towards Dylan. "It's that lighter that you gave me in training during capture the flag." Dylan studied the lighter, not believing that it was the same one he had given Ray a long time ago. It wasn't as shiny as when Dylan had last seen it and he was almost certain that it would no longer light, but it made him feel nice knowing that Ray had kept it all this time. He also noticed that Ray had dog tags hanging from his neck, immediately knowing that it was the same set of tags Tommy had given him. He could even see the name of Tommy's old club carved into the back of it.

"Guys?" Maddie called, popping her head back into the room. "Let's get going so we can get back to work."

———

Word Count: 2181

Roo, Ciara, Maddie, Grayson, Bugzie, and Ray are all new OC's that were submitted from my server! Thank you to Roo, Cait, Lazy, Eeg, Bugzie and Ray for working with me to create a lovely new OC team. I hope you readers enjoy them because they will also be appearing in future Bang and Burn stories!

Join my discord! Just did a server reset and I love it and I'm sure you will too!

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Follow me on Twitter!

@App13_Juice

I also have an Instagram now, so go give me a follow!

@app1e.juice

Published: October 1st


	32. Chapter 30

I’ve returned from my slumber to bring you another chapter nearly 1 month since the last update, only to return back to hibernation as soon as it’s published. In all seriousness, thank you for being patient. Love you guys.

Dylan opened the door to the interrogation room to find Tommy talking to Clay. On the other side of the glass, Toby was talking to Sprite, explaining to her that she needed to cooperate.

When Clay saw Dylan walk in with five other people, he rubbed his eyes. “Dylan. Why did you bring more people in here? Didn’t I tell you to lay low?”

“I trained with these guys,” Dylan explained. “They offered to help talk to Sprite.”

Grayson pushed to the front of his team and offered his hand out to Clay. “Agent Possum! I’m the leader of this team.”

“Co-leader,” Maddie corrected as she took Clay’s hand after Grayson. “I’m Agent 881.”

“What does the ‘881’ stand for? Like, does it mean anything?” Clay asked.

“Yep! It’s the number of pizza slices I’ve eaten throughout my life.” She looked back at the glass as Clay sat there, attempting to process what she said. “So, have you gotten anything from her yet?”

“Nope. Skeppy, Sapnap, and now Tubbo have all gone in to speak with her. She either shuts down or has a panic attack.” Clay ran his hand through his hair as Tubbo left the room and sat down beside Tommy. “Learn anything?”

“She only said the same thing she said to you,” Toby said, avoiding eye contact. “She wants to talk to Dylan and only Dylan.”

Roo grabbed the door handle. “Let us give this a try!” He walked in with a big smile on his face, Ciara following closely behind him. Maddie shrugged and entered the room behind them. Grayson started to follow but stopped at the doorway when he noticed Ray wasn’t behind him. Dylan followed Grayson’s gaze over to Ray who was with Tommy. Tommy was thoroughly inspecting the dog tags around his neck as if they were a lost relic. Deciding that it may be best for him to stay out of the interrogation room anyway, Grayson left without a word.

George watched as Maddie made her way to the front of her group, already looking intimidating. Grayson was by her side, looking as nice as ever. “So, Anna, why are you here?”

Sprite swallowed hard as she looked up at Maddie. “My team almost killed people.”

“Who?” Maddie asked.

“Agents Sapnap, Skeppy, and Mega.”

Maddie crossed her arms and bit her lower lip. Noticing that Maddie was getting fired up, Grayson took the lead. “I get it, we all make mistakes. Now, if you could answer some questions, we could help you out. Help us help you.”

“Oh, I like your accent,” Sprites stated after hearing Grayson talk. “Where are you from? Australia?”

Grayson’s jaw dropped. “I’M FROM NEW ZEALAND AND YOU KNOW THAT! I TOLD YOU ABOUT IT IN TRAINING!”

Maddie’s sour expression quickly changed as she noticed Grayson become more and more frustrated as the seconds passed. She placed her hands on his shoulders and moved him off to the side of the room and began giving him a pep talk to calm him down. Sprite smirked to herself. Two down, two more to go. Ciara noticed her smug expression and grabbed the brown sack from Roo’s arms. She tossed it towards Sprite. Though she was handcuffed to the table, she could still move her arms just enough to reach inside of it.

“Why did you give her my sandwich?!” Roo almost yelled at Ciara.

“You and I both know that the person in question will respond better if they get something, whether it’s food or water or something.” She turned back to Sprite. “So, you have food. Start talking.”

Sprite took the sandwich out of the sack and tossed it as hard as she could with her restraints on across the table. The sandwich slid to a stop right in front of Roo, who looked ready to hurt her. “How DARE you! THAT WAS MY DINNER!”

Ciara smacked Roo’s arm. “Chill! Keep your cool! Remember your training.”

“Oh, I remembered my training! What I didn’t remember was how much of a little shit this one was!” He slammed his hands on the table. “WHO DO YOU WORK FOR, SANDWICH KILLER?!”

“Since when were you ‘bad cop’?” Sprite asked. “Last I remember, Ciara was the more intimidating one.”

Ciara playfully flipped her hair. “I mean, you’re not wrong.”

“I can be intimidating,” Roo mumbled, crossing his arms. “You’re not the only one here who can intimidate others.”

“Oh really?” Ciara laughed. “Last I checked, I was the one that had to save your ass when you almost died on the last mission.”

“I WAS TRYING TO HELP ANOTHER AGENT!” Sprite once again smiled as she watched the two begin a pointless argument about their last mission.

“This is a disaster!” Nick yelled from behind the glass. “Why the fuck did you think this would help, Dylan?”

“Don’t attack Dylan.” George glowered. “He was trying to help.”

“He needs to stop trying.”

“Oh shut up, Nick!”

Darryl inserted himself between the two as they stared at each other, a fight brewing within them. “Can we please calm down? We don’t need to fight here.”

“George is defending a suspect!” Nick yelled. “HE IS HELPING THE ENEMY!”

“What are you talking about, Nick?” George stared at him in disbelief. “Dylan isn’t the enemy here and you know it.”

Nick held his glare for a few more seconds, then looked away and sunk into a chair behind him. “I don’t know anything anymore.”

“Hey, Anna,” a gentle voice said from inside of the room. Everyone turned their attention to the glass. While everyone was sucked into the outbreak of chaos, Dylan had slipped into the room with the other agents.

Clay stood up so fast, he nearly knocked his chair over. He stomped towards the door, but Zak leaned against it before he got there. “Out of my way, string bean.”

“I can’t let you in there, Clay.” He looked Clay in his eyes, which was hard for most people to do when he was this fired up. “You’ll have to kill me before you can get in there.”

In the room, Sprite’s smug expression softened. “Dylan, I am so sorry. I just-“

Dylan sat down across from her. “I know. Can you please tell me what you know?”

Sprite shook her head. “You know I can’t say much. He’s here. He’s listening. I don’t want to die, Dylan.”

“I’m scared.”

Everyone in the room stopped. If what she was saying was true, it meant that they couldn’t trust each other as much as they originally thought. Sprite took a staggering breath and continued. “What I can say is that I’m sorry for everything that happened. We were being told to do these awful things and, if we didn’t, he’d kill us. We didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“What about Agent Purpled?” Dylan asked. “You killed him, right?”

Out of the corner of his eye, George saw Tommy flinch as if he was about to be punched. Toby, who was beside him, patted his back as he looked through the glass. “You two alright?”

Toby didn’t move his eyes from the glass, but he decided to tell George to spare Tommy from having to relive everything. “Purpled use to work with us. He was one of the most brilliant weapon engineers Forte had seen. But one day, he was called to work with a new team and, not 24 hours later, he was shot and killed during a mission.”

Looking back through the glass, George saw Sprite’s eye flicker with sadness. “I did.”

“Why?” Dylan’s voice was stern despite his quivering lower lip. “Why would you kill him?”

“He knew Dream was innocent.” Sprite met Dylan’s eyes. “He wanted to expose what was going on. But if he did, we’d be killed. It was us or him and he knew that. I didn’t want him to die, but I don’t regret pulling the trigger.”

Dylan leaned back in his chair as he thought of what to ask next. “So, you can’t tell us your boss’s name. Describe him to me.”

“Dylan, I already told you-”

“Just do it. As long as you’re with us, you’re safe.”

Sprite glanced towards the glass. Though George knew she couldn’t see through it, he could’ve sworn she was looking right at Nick. “Well, he’s ruthless. He’s the kind of guy that will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. But ya know what makes him scary? It’s the fact that he isn’t all evil. He has friends and a family, just like the rest of us. He has morals and values. But when you’re desperate for something, you’ll do anything to get it.”

Dylan leaned in closer to her. “What was he after?”

“Money.”

Before Dylan could question her any further, he heard Darryl’s voice over the speaker in the room. “That’s enough for today. We can continue this tomorrow. Agent Sprite, thank you for your participation. You will now be escorted to a safe room where you will remain until we have our answers.”

The door then opened up as Zak hobbled in. At first, George had no idea why they sent the weakest person possible to collect her. But when he saw her reaction, he knew. Had anyone else gone in there to force her out, she would’ve fought back. She would’ve done everything she could’ve to get out. But with Zak, she was remorseful. It was as if she was seeing him injured for the first time. Sprite knew that her actions contributed to his near-death experience, and seeing him like this only made her feel worse. She didn’t fight back or thrash around. Instead, she let him detach her handcuffs from the table and guide her out of the room. As she was led away, she looked back over her shoulder to look at Dylan one last time. She opened her mouth to say something, but was at a loss for words. Dylan reassuringly nodded at her as she was taken away.

“You okay?” Clay’s voice pulled George’s attention off of the scene and onto him as people slowly made their way out of the room.

George nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s just this whole thing is crazy. I want to just go to bed and pretend like the last twenty-four hours never happened.”

Nick patted his shoulder. “Your wish is my command. I’m ready to pass out for a year. Or five.”

George exhaled a slight laugh and turned to leave, only stopping when he heard Clay’s voice once again. “I’m sorry.” George looked back at him as he continued. “I’m overwhelmed, so I can’t imagine how you must be feeling. You need a break from all of this.”

George nodded. “I do. It’s taking everything in me not to quit.”

“Tell you what,” Clay said with a friendly smile. “Let me make it up to you by taking you on a date. My treat.”

Everyone left in the room stopped and eagerly waited for George’s response, only to have their hopes crushed when he said, “No. I can’t, Clay. You know that.” Off to the side, George began hearing a banging noise. He looked over to find Dylan hitting his head against the wall. “Are you alright, Dylan?”

Dylan let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Yeah! Just peachy! I love it when two people who like each other play this dumbass game of ‘I like you but I am going to pretend I don’t want to’. It’s my favorite thing in the world.” He lifted his head from the wall. “Let me know when you are both done being idiots so you can plan this goddamn date that you both obviously want and need.” Dylan then walked out of the room, his forehead bright red.

Darryl followed after him and leaned out of the door, yelling, “Don’t forget! Your stay with me and Zak starts tonight!”

“Oh, right,” Zak mumbled. “We get to live with a demon for a week.”

“It was your idea, love,” Darryl reminds him. “Besides, you know you love him. He grows on you after a while.” Zak shrugged and left the room, pulling Darryl by his hand behind him.

“We should get home,” Nick suggested as he motioned towards the door. “Come on, George.”

George looked back at Clay, then to the door. After a moment, he decided to go home, not wanting to deal with his emotions right now.

———

Word Count: 2117

Thanks again for being chill while I worked on this. A lot has been happening in my private life, but I’ve got some more writing time now so hopefully I can get these out faster.

This story will be finished soon! I’ve got 7-8ish more chapters to write (give or take a few depending on if I stick to my plan or not). These next few ones have a lot packed into them, so I’m excited to see how you guys like it!

Here’s a link to my discord: https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Join it. I dare you. No balls.

Published: October 25th


	33. Chapter 31

George found himself starting to fall asleep during the meeting. During the last four days, not much had happened. After learning Clay was an agent, getting Nick home, and detaining the rogue agents, there wasn’t much action going on. The two biggest points of conversation going on were about who they worked for and where one of their accomplices, Strawberry, had escaped to. Dylan and Zak had both spent time talking to the other agents, but didn’t learn anything that was too helpful. They knew that their boss was making a lot of money and that he always had eyes on them, but they refused to go any further. Even Wilbur refused to talk about it. For now, their best bet was to find Strawberry and to take her down.

Darryl stood in front of a large whiteboard as he wrote down his notes in front of Zak, Clay, and George. Dylan was busy talking to Thundah and Nick had stepped away to use the restroom. “So! We know that Straw works with Agent F1nn5ter. She also has connections to the agents we have in captivity. What else do we know about her?”

“Not much,” Clay admitted. “Finn knew more about her than the rest of our team, but he doesn’t seem to know much.”

“I hate that we lost him,” Zak mumbled. “He was an amazing honey trap and could help us quite a bit.”

“Yeah, but he had to finish our original mission with Jake and Geo,” Clay explained.

“And they took Vincent with them,” George said, barely able to keep his eyes open. “I get that they had to switch him for Clay and Dylan, but still. It sucks to be down to half of our team now.”

“Oh, wait!” Clay shouted excitedly, starling George enough to wake him up. “Nick talked to Straw privately! Maybe he knows something?”

“Where even is he?” Zak asked. “It’s been, like, twenty minutes since he left.”

George stood up and stretched. “I’ll go look for him. Be right back.”

As he stepped out of the conference room, he spotted Dylan down the hall, typing away on his phone. When Dylan noticed George, he gave a half smile. “Hey, I just finished up with Thundah. Once again, I learned nothing. How is the rest of the meeting going?”

“Not good,” George admitted. “I’m on my way to look for Nick. He said he was running to the restroom and just never came back.”

Dylan’s smile faded. “Are you sure? Cause I saw him get in the elevator and go up to the roof.”

“How do you know he went up there?”

Dylan pointed to a dial sitting on top of the elevator that showed the floor it was on. The arrow inside of it was still pointed to the roof. “No one has used it since he went up.” George walked over and hit the button to call the elevator. “Dude, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to see what’s going on with him.” the elevator doors opened and he stepped inside. Dylan stepped in with him and pulled his gun out of its holster. “Woah, we don’t need to have any guns out!”

Dylan checked the magazine to see how many bullets he had. He then pushed it back into the gun and prepared it to fire. “You can never be too careful around a loose cannon.”

“Nick is not a loose cannon.”

Dylan looked up at George. “Better safe than sorry.”

As the elevator doors opened, they could hear a woman screaming. George pulled out his own gun as Dylan took the lead. Around the corner, they found Nick wrestling with someone. He had his hands wrapped around their wrists and had them pushed up against the ledge of the roof. The person beneath him was Straw. Their eyes were red and puffy and they were screaming, begging for Nick to spare them. But he wasn’t listening. It looked like he was trying to push them over the edge.

“AGENT SAPNAP!” Dylan yelled as he lifted his gun. “STAND DOWN, NOW!” He fired a warning shot that flew by Nick’s head, but he paid no attention to Dylan or the gunshot. His own thirst for blood had taken over him. “George, call for backup and stay back!” George pressed his finger onto his earpiece as he watched Dylan charge at Nick to try and help Straw.

“Agent 404 to team! We are on the roof and Nick is trying to kill Straw. GET HERE QUICK!”

Dylan managed to pry Nick’s hands off of Straw and he took him down to the ground with him as he fell. Nick slammed Dylan’s wrist onto the concrete ground and sent it skidding a few feet away from them. All three of the guys dove for the gun, but Nick got to it first. But instead of aiming at Straw, he took aim at Dylan. “Don’t move! NOBODY MOVE OR I SHOOT!”

Dylan sat up and held his hands above his head. George took a step towards Nick, but Nick pointed the gun at him. “I SAID NOBODY MOVE!” George didn’t know how to react. He was no longer looking at his best friend. He was looking at a broken person who was ready to hurt anyone he could. “Here’s how this is going to go. I’m going to put a bullet into Straw’s head. Then, I’m going to kill anyone who even thinks about telling anyone what happened.”

“Nick, listen to me,” Dylan said in a hushed voice. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but this has got to stop. We have Straw now! We can detain her and we can interrogate her!”

Nick shook his head. “You don’t get it. I already have everything we need to know.” His eyes teared up. “She’s working for Techno.”

“What?” George was confused. She wasn’t an agent.

“YOU FUCKING HEARD ME!” Nick screamed. “SHE’S WORKING FOR TECHNO! HE’S BEHIND ALL OF THIS!”

Straw looked up at George. “That’s not true. Nick is the one who hired us! Please, you have to believe me! Don’t let him kill me!”

“She’s lying George! SHE’S FUCKING LYING!” He aimed for her head. “I’m done being scared of you.” Dylan and George both jumped at him, but by the time they grabbed him, it was too late. Straw fell back and off of the roof, landing with a sickening thud on the pavement below. Dylan snatched the gun from Nick’s hands as the elevator doors behind them opened up. Clay and Darryl both stepped out, but they froze when they saw Nick on the ground, breathing heavily. Some of Straw’s blood was splattered onto the ground which only made them more worried. Dylan stood and walked over to Clay and explained what happened. After a short fifteen seconds of discussion, Clay pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them onto Nick’s wrists. Nick didn’t even fight it. He didn’t show any sort of remorse for his actions. If anything, he looked relieved.

Darryl helped George off of the ground and rubbed his back. “How are you feeling?”

“I just watched my best friend kill someone and I’m not sure they were guilty.” Darryl sadly nodded as he led him to the elevator with everyone else. The ride back down to their floor was tense and felt like it lasted for ages. Once they made it down, Clay pulled Nick into a separate room, Dylan following close behind him. Darryl pulled Zak off to the side to explain what had happened, leaving Zak feeling like a wreck. The two then stepped into the room and motioned for George to follow.

It was just another conference room. No special interrogation equipment, no conventional interrogation methods. Just an angry giant and a trigger happy teenager ready for answers. “Nick, why were you on the roof with Straw?” Clay asked.

“She invited me to meet her there.”

“Is that why you stepped away from the meeting?”

“Yep.”

“Why did you want her dead?”

Nick scoffed. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe she wanted me dead?”

“You lost your shit up there, Nick!” Dylan yelled. “You don’t get to threaten to kill them along with anyone who’d rat you out!”

“I get why they were all so scared now because I’m scared too,” Nick admitted. “But if we get out of here fast enough, we will be alright.”

“What are you talking about?” Clay asked.

“Techno is behind all of this!” Nick shouted. “Don’t you see? That’s why they said, ‘He’s watching,’ and shit! Techno has cameras everywhere! Now uncuff me so we can pack up and leave!”

Everyone stayed still. “Nick, she called you a liar up there,” George pointed out. “She said that you were the one behind all of this.”

“You seriously don’t believe me?” Everyone stayed silent. “Check the security cameras! You’ll see that she attacked me first!”

Zak nodded as he left the room, presumably to retrieve the security footage. Darryl got on his earpiece and called Technoblade to let him know that there was an incident while Clay and Dylan both sat and stared at Nick. After a few minutes, Zak came in carrying his laptop. He opened it up and hit the spacebar, starting the security video caught by the cameras.

Strawberry had their arms folded over their chest as they looked out across the city. Nick came up behind them, but kept his distance. He almost looked scared for a moment. While the cameras recorded audio, it only picked up fragments of their conversation. It wasn’t enough to make either of them look guilty in any way. But then, Straw pulled a knife out of the back of her pants and swung it at Nick. He jumped back and reached for his gun, only to curse loudly when he found he was unarmed. The next few minutes that went by were full of cursing, fighting, and blood, only to be interrupted by George and Dylan when they made it to the scene.

“See? I told you!” Nick yelled, looking deranged. “I’m INNOCENT!”

Dylan closed the laptop and leaned in to whisper to Zak. “We need to consider that maybe she was trying to free herself from her boss.”

George’s breathing hitched as he tried to consider the possibility that Nick was the enemy. There was no way that his best friend was capable of such a thing, but he was also the same one that killed Straw and screamed threats at the other rogue agents. Before, George thought they were just empty threats made by a man who was in pain. But now, George was starting to think that there was more emotion behind his threats than he had originally thought.

Zak looked up at Darryl for what looked like approval. Darryl sadly bit his bottom lip, then nodded, handing Zak a set of handcuffs. Nick’s eyes fell on the cuffs as Zak approached. “Zak? What are you doing?”

Zak carefully closed the cold, metal cuffs around Nick’s wrists. “Until we know for sure if you are innocent, you will be staying here at the office. As soon as we can confirm that you are on our side or not, this is what’s best for everyone. In the meantime, take this time to calm yourself down.”

Nick scoffed. “You seriously think that I’m the bad guy?”

Zak looked away, unable to meet Nick’s eyes. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“Send the audio to Floris!” Nick shouted. “He can figure out a way to mess with it so you can hear us better, I’m sure of it!”

Zak looked back at Darryl, a sad look in his eyes. As much as he wanted to believe him, it was painfully obvious that he had his doubts. “I’ll send it to him, but I will not hesitate to turn you in myself if we find out you’re behind this.”

Darryl walked up behind Nick and made him stand up. As he guided Nick out of the room, Nick looked back at George. “I’m not the bad guy. You know that, right?” When George’s only response was a sad expression, Nick nodded. “I see how it is. Some friend you are.” George’s eyes began filling up with tears.

Clay was quick to try and comfort George. He pulled him into a hug and, for the first time over the last few days, George didn’t mind being in Clay’s arms. “I just want you to know that none of this is your fault,” Clay whispered. “I promise.” George nodded as he buried his head into Clay’s chest. “Until we know if Nick is with us or not, you are going to come stay at my place, okay?”

George looked up at him, his big brown eyes filled with confusion, briefly overtaking his sorrow. “I’m an adult. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“But he knows where you live, George. If he is behind this, he can have people sent after you to kidnap or even kill you. I’d never be able to live with myself if something happened to you while you were alone.”

George noticed Zak shiver out of the corner of his eye. “I’ll be staying here in the meantime. Darryl won’t want to leave Nick and I refuse to leave the two of them alone.” He tried to be as convincing as possible, but George could tell that he was scared. He wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight with his injury.

Dylan groaned as he crossed his arms. “Great. Looks like I’m staying with the angsty couple.”

“Wait, what?” Clay asked.

“Well, I’m not staying here because I don’t trust Technoblade, and everyone else is busy with their own mission, so I’m coming home early I guess.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m gonna let Darryl know real quick.”

Zak put his hand on George’s shoulder. “Are you going to be okay, George?”

George laid his head back down against Clay’s chest. Hesitantly, he replied.

“I’ll be just fine.”

———

Word Count: 2351

All I have to say is hehehehehehehe

Discord: https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Just join it. Join the cult. We need more friends.

Published: October 26th


	34. Chapter 32

Dylan sat in silence as he watched Clay and George argue from the couch. They had been at each other ever since George moved in last night. At first, he hated having to listen to their constant bickering. But now, he’d found that putting on youtube royalty free music through his headphones was actually entertaining. Listening to loud, bubbly music while watching the two’s body language and mouths moving was oddly satisfying. He continued shoveling spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth as he just watched. He then saw Clay turn to him and say something. He popped one of his earbuds out and innocently asked, “Pardon?”

“I said, are you having fun watching us fight?” 

Dylan nodded as he ate another spoonful of his cereal. “Yes, this is very entertaining. If you are ever in need of a good song, I highly suggest, ‘Happy and Upbeat Ukulele Royalty Free Background Music’. It’s making me feel vibes I didn’t know I could feel.” He then put his bowl down in his lap and held his hand up like the meme of that guy gesturing up to a butterfly. 

“Is this _happiness_?”

Clay stared at Dylan blankly for a moment, then calmly stated, “That’s it. I’m killing a child. I’m going to fucking kill you.” 

Dylan stretched out on the couch, covering most of it with his body. “And stain your perfect brown leather couches? Doubt it.” 

“Can you please answer my question now?” George asked, crossing his arms. “Why the hell am I not allowed to go upstairs?”

“Because that’s the west wing,” Dylan answered before Clay had the chance to. “This dude is hiding a magic glowing rose that is slowly wilting away. Without true love’s kiss, he will remain a beast forever. And oh, by the way, that fork in your hand? It has feelings, you know.”

George didn’t take his eyes off of Dylan as he slowly reached down to place the fork on the dining table beside him. He then looked back at Clay, pretending Dylan didn’t just compare this situation to “Beauty and the Beast”. “So, anyway. Seriously, why can’t I go upstairs?”

“Because I haven’t cleaned up there yet. It’s not ready for guests at the moment.” 

George shook his head. “I knew you were an idiot, but I would’ve never taken you for a liar.”

“I can confirm that he is both an idiot and telling the truth,” Dylan said as he stood up from the couch. He wandered past them and into the kitchen to rinse his bowl. “I don’t know if you’ve seen this place, but Clay takes pride in keeping everything looking nice. I’m not even allowed upstairs sometimes.” 

Dylan had a point. The “house” was more like a slightly smaller mansion. The place had two floors, a large basement, and an attic that Dylan had claimed back when he moved in with Clay. The first floor had your usual rooms like the living room, kitchen, dining area, things like that. But upstairs, there was apparently a mini-bar, game room, and multiple bedrooms, one of which Clay promised George that he could stay in. But, as soon as George stepped inside for the first time the night prior, Clay panicked and forbade George from going upstairs until he had the place cleaned up. George thought he was lying, but he saw now that Clay was just a clean freak. 

“So, is that all you guys were fighting about?” Dylan asked. 

“Yep,” Clay responded. 

Dylan stopped washing his bowl to narrow his eyes at them. “You guys were seriously fighting all morning because George couldn’t go upstairs?” 

“Well, when you put it that way, it sounds stupid,” George admitted.

“Because it is stupid!” Dylan groaned as he placed his bowl on the drying rack. “You two need a night out I swear.” 

Both Clay and George froze, neither one knowing what to say. Clay cleared his throat. “Right. Okay. I think I’m going to finish cleaning up for George.” Without another word, Clay left the dining area and headed up the stairs quickly.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Dylan said, “So, about that date.”

“The what?” George asked. 

“The date! I was thinking maybe a nice sitdown dinner and then a carriage ride through the park.” 

“Dylan, no. I’m not going on a date with Clay. Besides, that sounds expensive.”

Dylan crossed his arms as he leaned on the granite counters. “Dude, you work for Forte and I know you are being paid an arm and a leg because you didn’t have proper training.”

“Why would I get more money for a lack of training? Wouldn’t the more well-trained agents get paid more?” 

“Nope. They pay untrained agents more because they figure the new ones will be the ones getting hurt more often.” 

George awkwardly smiled. “That’s comforting.” 

Dylan winked. “Don’t worry. Mr. Dream wouldn’t let anything happen to you.” Dylan pushed himself up onto the counter. “Heard back from Zak or Darryl yet?”

George checked his phone and sighed when he saw no new messages. “Not since last night. They were able to confirm that Straw talked about Techno, but we still don’t know if they were telling the truth or not.” 

“I think Straw was telling the truth. It would make sense for Technoblade to be behind this. But I still don’t know if he’s working alone or not.”

“How can you be so sure that Techno is behind this?” 

Dylan bit the inside of his cheek as he searched for the right words. “Techno has never been the biggest fan of Clay, so the moment he thought Clay was killing agents and innocent people, it is possible that he thought it was the perfect way to take him out.” 

“I have another question that’s been bugging me,” George stated. “Techno said that your team was dead. Why would he say that if he knew you were alive?”

“I have no idea.” Dylan’s phone rang, prompting him to check it. “It’s Zak. I should take this.” He answered the phone and hopped off the counter, making his way to the backdoor. He excused himself to the garden, leaving George standing alone in the dining area.

Down by his feet, a small tabby cat began rubbing its head against his leg. It was Clay’s cat, Patches. She had taken quite a liking to George and offered him a surprising amount of comfort. He never would’ve guessed that a friendship with a cat would be the best thing to come out of this whole situation. He scooped her up and cradled her in his arms, softly rubbing her back.

“She must really like you,” Clay’s voice called out, startling George. “She doesn’t usually like being held.”

George smiled down at the cat. “She’s so precious. I’m honored to be accepted by her.” He let out a small giggle, causing Clay to smile. 

“I’m sorry about earlier.” George looked at Clay, who had his hands shoved into the lime green hoodie he was wearing. “I was being ridiculous. I guess, with it being your first time here and all, I wanted it to be perfect.” He slumps against the kitchen island. “You know, every time I imagined you coming over for the first time, I always thought it’d be under better circumstances.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Like, I thought we would’ve gone out on a nice date and we’d come back here for a drink or something.” 

George carefully sat the cat back on the floor. “Well, doesn’t look like that’s happening anytime soon.” 

“I know.” 

Dylan came back inside, holding his phone in his hand. He looked like he was still trying to process what he was told. “So, Fundy finished going over the audio. Turns out, Strawberry wasn’t as innocent as we all thought she was. While the other agents and Wilbur were forced to do their crimes against their will, Straw glady assisted the enemy. They had been told to target Nick specifically.”

Clay studied Dylan’s face. “I have a feeling that wasn’t all you were told.” 

“Technoblade is behind this.” 

“But you already suspected him,” George reminded him. “Why do you seem shocked?” 

“Because there is no way he is working alone.” He put his phone down on the table. “Remember what Anna said? About their boss doing it for money? Why the hell would Techno need money? He’s fucking set dude.”

“I know that look, Dylan,” Clay said softly. “Who do you think he’s working with.” 

Dylan didn’t look at him. All he did was whisper, “You already know my answer.” 

Clay nodded. “Yeah. Yeah I know.” 

“Who?” George asked. 

Dylan and Clay shared a quick look before Dylan answered, “I can’t say. If I’m wrong, I could end up hurting people.” 

Clay cleared his throat and walked to George, grabbing his hand. “Come on, let me show you around upstairs.” 

“Is clean enough for you, Mr. Dream?” George teased. 

Clay shook his head as he quietly laughed. “Yeah, it’s fine. Just please don’t call me Mr. Dream ever again.” 

“Sorry about that, Mr. Dream. I started that. That’s my fault,” Dylan laughed. 

Clay playfully glared at him. “I won’t hesitate to ground you again, young man.”

“You’ll have to catch me first, asshole!” 

“FUCKING BET!” Clay then charged full speed at Dylan. Dylan dodged him just in time and ran towards the stairs, skipping every other step as he went up. Clay took off after him, a big smile on his face. 

George laughed as he followed them up the stairs. He wasn’t in a rush like they were and he had no desire to join whatever battle they had going on, but he was ready to look around. And the upper floor did not disappoint. The stairs opened up to a gaming area, complete with a pool table and the latest gaming consoles. In the corner of the room was a mini-fridge labeled, “Dylan’s shit. Do not touch!” There was also a large leather couch that stretched nearly the entire length of the room with cup holders on the ends of it. 

Down the hall, he caught a glimpse of multiple bedrooms, with a huge bedroom at the end of the hall that was decorated with whites and greens. There were also two bathrooms as well as a room that George believed was where the mini-bar was. But, even with all of these rooms, there was no sign of Dylan or Clay. They had just vanished. 

But then, a thud from above George’s head made him realize that they weren’t on the same floor as him anymore. Tucked in the corner of the game room was a ladder that led to some room above him. As he got closer to it, he could hear the two struggling and laughing together. George went up the stairs and found himself in the biggest attic he had ever seen. 

The carpet was perfectly white and the black sloped walls made it look even brighter. On the other side of the room was a large computer set-up, complete with monitors and a fancy looking PC. LED lights ran across the large desk, reflecting blue light into the black screens of the monitors. The bed beside it had a basic black comforter with white and black striped pillows which matched the futon that sat close to the opening of the attic. There was also a gaming area similar to the one downstairs as well as a table that had a Dr. Pepper can and an empty bag of Cool Ranch Doritos sitting on it. In the middle of the room, Clay and Dylan were wrestling with each other. Clay, being a much bigger person than Dylan, was winning. 

“Ask for mercy and I’ll let you go!” Clay yelled. 

“You’ll never take me alive, fat ass!” Dylan screamed with a big smile on his face. 

“Oh, I have a fat ass, huh?” Clay then pinned Dylan to the ground and sat on him. “HOW FAT IS MY ASS, DYLAN?”

Dylan, still underneath Clay, was losing his shit. He struggled to catch his breath as he yelled, “OK! MERCY! MERCY!” Clay got off of him and the two laid on the ground, holding their sides from laughing so hard. George couldn’t believe his eyes. All this time, he had only seen them fight, yet here they were, acting like brothers. Clay stood up and offered his hand out to Dylan to help him stand. The two smiled at each other for a second, then noticed George staring at them. 

“So, uh, welcome to my room, I guess.” Dylan ran his right hand through his hair. “Touch anything in here and I’ll stab you.” 

“Note taken,” George said as he looked around, in awe over his computer set-up. 

Dylan took a nervous breath. “Now that we are all in a good mood, I think this is a great time to let you two know that you have a reservation tonight.”

“A what?” Clay asked, his happiness fading into suspicion. 

“I called your restaurant and booked the place out for a few hours tonight. You two are going to go and talk through your problems over a glass of wine or whatever it is you guys drink.” 

Clay crossed his arms. “Fine, but if we are going on this date, you have to call your mom.” 

Dylan rolled his eyes. “Nice try. That’s not happening.” 

“You haven’t spoken to her in a long time, Dylan. You need this. She needs this.” 

“She doesn’t need me, Clay. We talked about this already.” 

“Can you please just consider it?” 

Dylan thought for a moment. “Fine, I’ll call her. BUT I’m only calling her because I am tired of watching you two run around with your heads up your asses. Deal?” 

Clay held out his hand. “Deal.” 

Dylan shook his hand, then retreated to the far side of his room where his computer was. “Let me know if you hear anything from Zak or Darryl about those agents and Will.”

“Only if you do the same.” Dylan responded with a thumbs up as he put his headphones on. Clay led the way down the ladder and back into the game room just as George got a phone call from Zak. 

“Hello?”

“Few things. One, we let the rogue agents and Wilbur go. Two, based off of the audio we got back from Fundy, it’s clear that Techno was the one who hired the agents and not Nick. But we learned something troubling.” Zak spoke fast and quiet as if he was trying to keep quiet. “I overheard Techno saying that another agent is going to die soon. He doesn’t know that we know he is behind this, so if I act fast, I may be able to figure out who it is.” 

“Okay, thank you, Zak. What’s going to happen to Nick?”

“He acted out of self-defense, so he isn’t in trouble, but he is still very unstable. When you guys left last night, he broke and talked to me about everything.” A door then opened up and a deep voice said something that George couldn’t quite hear. “Shit I got to go.” Zak then hung up. Almost immediately after he hung up, Zak texted him, “Good luck on the date by the way.” 

Clay had George’s hand clasped firmly in his own. “Is everything alright?” 

George looked down at their interlocked hands. “I’ll fill you in later. Right now, we have a date to get ready for.”

  
  


———

Word Count: 2600

Discord is cool. Discord is fun. Get in there now. Thanks.

https://discord.gg/jkPgTk4

Published: October 27th


	35. Chapter 33

Dylan watched as George helplessly tried to tie a bowtie around the collar of his white shirt. “How the hell do people do these things?!”

“Easy. They look it up online,” Dylan responded, highly entertained.

“I did, Dylan! I looked it up, I watched youtube videos, I even had Darryl send me a video of him doing it. I CAN’T do this!”

Dylan rolled his eyes and stood up from the couch. He pulled George away from the mirror on the wall and began tying it himself. “You’ll have to learn how to do this eventually, especially if you attend any important business meetings and shit.”

“But I have normal ties at home that I know how to tie. I had to borrow this one from Clay because this place is apparently fancy enough to have a dress code.”

Dylan squinted at the bow tie. “You need to invest in more bow ties and tying lessons.”

“I have normal ties, though!”

“I know, but you look good with a bow tie. You should wear them more often.” Dylan pulled the edges of the tie, forming a perfect bow.

George looked at himself in the mirror, admiring the blue bow. “Wow. I would’ve never guessed that you, of all people, would be able to help me. Thank you.”

“It’s no problem. I went to a private school for two years and bow ties and ties were just a part of our uniform, I guess. The bow ties looked way cuter than the normal ties.”

George ran his fingers through his hair, attempting to style it. “I would’ve never taken you as the kind of person to want to look good.”

Dylan playfully scoffed. “What is that supposed to mean? You’re literally borrowing my white button-up, dude.”

“I don’t know! You just come across like someone who doesn’t care what they look like. You’re all about the black jeans and graphic tees. Were you trying to impress a girl or something?”

“A guy, actually,” Dylan responded. “Ah, the joys of being pan and wanting to fuck everyone.” He laughed. “Anyway, let me know if you need help with anything else. Also, roll up your sleeves to your elbows, but don’t make it look like you tried to make it look nice. He’ll go crazy over that.” George took Dylan’s advice as he walked away, messily rolling his white sleeves up.

Clay came down the stairs dressed just as nice as George was, sporting a navy shirt and a white tie. When he saw George standing by the door, he stopped and slightly smiled as his face turned pink. “H-hey. You look nice.”

“Dude, tell him he’s hot!” Dylan whispered as he squeezed past them to go up the stairs. “You fucking know he is, so tell him, or I’ll do it for you.”

“Shut up, Dylan!” Clay whispered back.

Dylan nodded at George. “Bro, he thinks you’re hot!” He then took off up the stairs, laughing maniacally to himself.

Clay shook his head as he opened the front door. “Shall we?” George walked outside, finding it hard to breathe with how fast his heart was beating in his chest. It was only made worse when Clay leaned in and whispered, “He’s right, you know,” into his ear as he opened the passenger seat door for him. George slid into his seat, biting his lower lip as he eagerly waited for Clay to get in beside him.

Clay settled into his seat and sat behind the wheel for a moment. “Hey George?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for going on a date with me. I can already tell this will be the best date ever.”

George squinted his eyes. “How can you be so sure?”

“Well, you’ll be there with me. If that’s not perfection, then I don’t know what is.”

Dylan watched as the pair drove off, then nervously looked down at his phone. He promised Clay that he’d call his mom, but part of him couldn’t bring himself to dial her number. She didn’t know anything going on in his life. In her mind, he was going to a state-of-the-art boarding school for troubled teens. She didn’t know he’d ran off to become an agent and he wasn’t about to tell her now. He took a deep breath, searched for her contact, then hit the call button.

“Dylan?! I haven’t talked to you in so long! How are you?”

“Hey mom. I’m doing great, I guess. Nothing new going on.”

“How’s school going? Is your roommate still giving you problems?”

Dylan wanted to laugh at her question. He had convinced her that he had a teenage roommate named Clay who continuously bothered him. If only she knew. “No, actually. I stayed with two of my other friends and we took a break from each other. Things are better now, though. We both needed time to chill first.”

“Are you still keeping your grades up?”

“Of course, mom. Why wouldn’t I?” He then swallowed the lump in his throat to ask her the one thing he didn’t want an answer to. “How’s your treatment going?”

His mom was silent for a moment. She didn’t seem to want to talk about it either. “It, uh, hasn’t been great, if I’m being honest. The doctors want to put me back on chemo.”

Dylan nodded his head as he tried to force himself to breathe. “Shit.”

“Watch your tongue, young man!”

“Sorry.”

“But yes, the cancer came back worse. They’re doing everything they can with the budget I have.”

“Do you need more money?” Dylan quickly asked. “I can send you as much as you need. Just name your price.”

“No, Dylan. I won’t let you. I don’t know how you come up with the money that you send already. You don’t need to send any more than that. You work too hard, Honey.”

“Mom, this is your life we’re talking about. You can’t put a price on your life.”

“And you can’t stress yourself out more than you already do, Dylan,” He stayed silent as he heard his mom sigh. “Baby, please don’t strain yourself. Focus on your schoolwork and whatever job you have and I’ll focus on getting better. And hey, maybe you can come home to California for a visit next week? I’d love to have you home for Thanksgiving.”

Dylan forced himself to smile. “Only if you make that chocolate pecan pie.”

“Of course, Honey! I’ve got to get going, but I can call you tomorrow so we can arrange your flight information!”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Bye, Dylan!”

“Bye, Mom.”

“I love you!” his mom called out. Dylan hung up, unable to choke out a response. He covered his mouth with his hand, angry that he was letting himself cry. After taking a moment to compose himself, he went back onto his phone to do the one thing he knew would make him feel better.

It was time to fuck with his friends.

George sat across from Clay, a glass of red wine in his hand. They two had been enjoying their evening out so far, spending time talking about growing up and their homelives. George had talked about his mother, which prompted Clay to continuously remind George that he’d go visit his mom in the UK to drink coffee with her and gossip. As much as George pretended to be annoyed, he couldn’t help himself from laughing about Clay possibly meeting his family. He could see it now: Mum? Dad? Meet my boyfriend, Clay! How did we meet? Oh, you know. We got drunk and fucked, then I got hired as an agent to seduce him, only to find out that he was a good guy too! Oh, also, the man we work for may be evil but we still aren’t sure.

The waiter came to their table, carrying a platter with their meals as well as some candles and a fresh basket of bread to replace their empty one. Clay and George both thanked the man, then began to dig in. But not five minutes into eating their main course, their phones start going off. Dylan was spamming both of them with random memes and photos that he found funny. They both set their phones to silent, but after listening to their phones vibrate for a few more minutes, Clay had enough. He dialed Dylan’s number and angrily waited for a response.

“Yellow?” It annoyed Clay that Dylan sounded so casual as if he didn’t send the pictures.

“Don’t you ‘yellow’ me! I’m on a date, Dylan.”

“Well, duh. I’m the one that set it up, idiot.”

“Dylan, quit spamming us. Please. I will block you if I have to.”

“Fine, I’ll stop messaging you two. Bye!” Dylan then quickly hung up.

Clay set his phone down, but before he could say anything to George, Dylan began spamming their group chat that they had been using for work purposes with the same memes and photos. Clay then told everyone in the group chat to block Dylan. No one objected, everyone ready to not have to deal with his pointless messages.

“Sorry about that, George,” Clay mumbled. “You know how kids can be.”

“Why did you say that like a forty-year-old mother?”

Clay rolled his eyes. “Dylan makes me feel like a forty-year-old mother sometimes. Now, where were we?”

“I believe you were telling me about your future outing with my family?”

Clay’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Right. How could I forget?”

Dylan frowned at his phone as every message he sent to any of his teammates struggled to go through. They all were in the middle of sending, but never quite went through. Not wanting to feel alone, he scrolled through his contacts until he reached the one he was looking for: Agent Sprite. His thumb lingered over her contact as he thought about whether or not he should be contacting her. Things with her would already be awkward due to everything that happened with her and her team. But they were found innocent. They aren’t evil like everyone thought. He decided he’d text her, but Patches jumping onto the counter startled him enough for him to hit a button on his phone. He got up and grabbed the cat from the counter, carefully placing her on the ground. She looked out the window by the kitchen, then strutted off to another room.

Dylan returned back to his phone, but was mortified when he heard Sprite’s voice asking, “Dylan? You there? Hellooooo?” He groaned, realizing he hit the call button when Patches scared him. He swallowed his fear and held his phone up to his ear.

“Hey, Anna. How are things?”

“Going good, I think. Zak is sending us to a safehouse that my team and I will be staying in until everything is safe.”

“So, are you on lockdown, or are you still allowed to leave?”

“I can only leave with an agent escort.”

Dylan closed his eyes as he forced himself to say, “Well, I’m an agent.”

“Yeah. And?”

“Can I escort you to the nearest movie theater or coffee shop or something?”

Sprite stayed quiet, causing Dylan to panic. He couldn’t believe what he was doing. He was seriously trying to ask her out on a date and was failing miserably.

“Sure.”

“Wait, what?”

“I’ll go on a date with you, Dylan.”

“GREAT! When are you free?”

“I’m not doing anything in two days. Pick me up at 6? I’ll send you the address.”

“I’d love that!”

“I’ve got to go. Bye, Dylan! I’ll text you later!”

“Bye, Anna!” Dylan fell back onto the couch, a big smile on his face. He’d never been so excited for a date before and he couldn’t wait to tell Clay all about it. He got up and decided to make himself some dinner before it got too late.

He grabbed the ground beef he had pulled out earlier to thaw as well as some taco seasoning and began browning the meat. The fire from the gas stove flickered beautifully underneath the pan as he slid his earbuds in, hitting play on his playlist.

“So, may I interest you gentlemen in another glass of wine?” the waiter asked as he stopped by the table, handing George and Clay the dessert menu.

“I’m good,” Clay responded. “George?”

“I’m fine as well, thank you!” He leaned across the table to be slightly closer to Clay. “So, this is your restaurant, what’s the best item on the dessert menu?”

“That’s a tough one. I think my favorite is the strawberry cheesecake, but pretty much everything on the menu is amazing.”

George handed his menu back to the waiter. “Sounds delicious!”

Clay smirked as he handed his menu back as well. “Two slices of the strawberry cheesecake and one of the chocolate lava cakes to go, please!”

The waiter smiled. “For Dylan, right?”

“You know it.”

“I’ll make sure they add extra whipped cream, just like he likes it!”

Clay nodded as the waiter walked away, then turned his attention back to George. “So, having fun this evening?”

“Yeah! This has been so amazing. I’m glad Dylan got us to come out tonight. I needed the distraction.” George ran his finger along the rim of his empty wine glass. “This whole agent thing has been messing with my head. It doesn’t make it any better that our boss is behind this. I just don’t know what to make of it.”

Clay took the glass out of George’s hand, then grabbed both of his hands, tracing circles along his knuckles. “Hey, let’s not focus on all of that, okay?”

“I can’t just pretend like it’s not bothering me, Clay. Another agent is being targeted and we don’t know who.” George then decided to ask the question that’s been bothering him all night. “What if I’m the target, Clay? What if I’m next? I don’t know how to defend myself like the rest of you do.”

Clay raised one of George’s hands to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss onto his fingers, making George feel weak despite being seated in a chair. “I’d never let anything bad happen to you. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you got hurt. I love you too much for that.”

George’s eyes grew wide as he stared at Clay, waiting for him to laugh it off as a joke. But he was as serious as ever. George was unable to respond as became a giggling, flustered mess. Clay smirked. George didn’t have to say it back. He knew he felt the same way.

Dylan continued cooking his food in peace, chopping up some onions to mix in with the meat. Just as he finished with the onions, he saw he had an incoming call from Sprite. He picked it up and happily said, “Hey, Anna!”

“DYLAN! GET OUT OF THERE, RIGHT NOW!”

“Excuse me?”

“DYLAN PLEASE! You don’t have much time! You’re next, Dylan. They want you dead!”

“Who’s they? What? You’re making no sense!” Then, Dylan heard glass shatter from behind him. He turned around and saw that the window that Patches looked through earlier was now broken into a million pieces. A man wearing all black climbed in through the window and stood in front of Dylan.

While he was shocked to see someone break into his home, the person standing before him wasn’t any surprise. It was the last bit of confirmation he needed to prove his theory right. This was the man who was paying Technoblade. The man who wanted him and his teammates dead. The man who was willing to kill to get whatever he wanted.

And Dylan knew that he was here to kill him.

Illumina.

“Where’s Clay?” Illumina asked.

“What makes you think I’d tell you?”

**A/N &TW: The rest of this chapter comes with a MASSIVE trigger warning. If you are bothered by violence, blood, and Dylan suffering from awful injuries, please do not read on. The following scene can be quite damaging to some readers. You know your limits, so please stick to them and skip to the end of the chapter where you see the bolded text if you wish to avoid anything possibly triggering.**

“So he isn’t home? Perfect.” Illumina pulled the gun hiding in the back of his pants and shot at Dylan, hitting him in his right arm. Dylan pressed his left hand against it as he fought back tears. He looked back up and noticed Illumina preparing to shoot again. Dylan grabbed a kitchen knife and gritted his teeth as he swung at Illumina, but he managed to plant another bullet into his arm before the knife met his chest, eliciting a shriek of agony from Dylan. . He tried to stab him, but Illumina caught his arm and wrestled the knife out of his hand and onto the floor. He then kicked Dylan, sending him flying into the kitchen island behind him. With a loud thud, he hits the back of his head against the corner of the granite countertop, then toppled onto the ground. Dylan’s head began pounding as he felt his body ache. He could feel his dark hair becoming wet and sticky with the fresh blood flowing out of the back of his head.

He reached for his phone, but Illumina grabbed his ankle and yanked him across the white floor, leaving a bloodtrail behind him. Dylan kicked at his hands and eventually freed his leg from the man’s grasp. He crawled back over to his phone and dove behind the kitchen island, feeling dizzy. He dialed Clay’s number and held it up to his ear, only to feel his heart drop.

“We are sorry, but the number you are attempting to reach is no longer available.”

Nononono. He then tried George’s number.

“We are sorry, but the number you are attempting to reach is no longer available.”

God fucking dammit. He was blocked by every single one of his teammates. There was no back-up. No help. For the first time since starting his career, Dylan was truly alone and fighting an armed man who was bigger and stronger than he was.

Illumina fired another gunshot, making Dylan flinch. “COME HERE, KID! YOU’VE CAUSED ENOUGH PROBLEMS FOR ME ALREADY!”

Dylan looked around him for any sign of his equipment. In his belt, he had all sorts of helpful things that would’ve come in handy right about now. His communicator was in there, along with poison darts, a tranquilizer, and his gun. All he had to do was find it and get to it before Illumina killed him. After a few seconds of searching, he found his stuff sitting on the glass coffee table in front of the couch. He forced himself to get up and ran to the table, getting shot once again in his leg, causing him to fall into the glass table. The table shattered under his weight and the sharp shards were scattered everywhere. He felt glass entering his skin through his arms as he began uncontrollably shaking. His head hurt the worst, but he didn’t care. He didn’t have the time to care. Right now, he had to focus on living. He grabbed his gun and turned back around to fire. He shot at Illumina three times in the chest, expecting that to be enough to kill him. Illumina fell back against the wall and grabbed his chest as he groaned in pain.

Dylan let his head fall back as he caught his breath, thankful that he had done it. He had finally rid himself of Illumina. He let out a small laugh as he closed his eyes. For a moment, he let himself breathe. He wanted to cry, just so happy to be alive. But his celebration was cut short when he heard Illumina get back up. His heart rate spiked as he opened his eyes. Illumina didn’t have any visible gunshot wounds. There wasn’t any blood.

The motherfucker had a bulletproof vest.

Illumina growled as he approached Dylan. Dylan held his gun up to shoot again, this time aiming for his head, but Illumina easily wrestled the gun out of Dylan’s hand.

Illumina then stomped as hard as he could onto Dylan’s left leg, which was propped up against the edge of the frame the glass sat in. Dylan screamed as he felt the bone in his leg break, throwing his head back again as he tried to force the pain down. His black jeans covered up the leg, but he could tell that it was bent in an unnatural position. He tried to reach for his earpiece, but Illumina pulled him back up and threw him against the glass tv stand, making him hit the right side of his face as well as his right eye.

He rolled onto his side and coughed as his vision blurred through his right eye, making it nearly impossible to see well enough to put up much of a fight. Dylan reached up to his forehead and felt a large gash that was dripping with blood. He could feel himself spiraling into a panic attack of sorts. He couldn’t keep his breathing steady, nor could he focus on a single thing. Every time he tried to decide what to do next, his mind would only go back to the thought of Clay walking into his home after a lovely date to see his body, lifeless on the floor. He tried to push himself up, but with the bullets in his arm, combined with his already injured left wrist, he lacked the strength it took to get back up.

Illumina laughed as he watched Dylan struggle on the floor. “You know, I thought you’d be the hard one to kill. I thought you’d put up a fight. But this? This is just child’s play now.”

“Why are you doing this?” Dylan asked as he looked up, feeling blood drip down the right side of his face. “What did I do to you?” He struggled to keep his eyes open, feeling ready to pass out at any second.

“You took the agents I hired away from me. You took the few people I needed to make my plan work and you liberated them.” He held his gun up to Dylan’s head. “Now it’s my turn to liberate you, kid.” Dylan felt the energy draining from his body. The blood pooling under him made him feel even warmer than he was, but he couldn’t stop shivering. He had learned all about death many years ago when his father died, but Dylan never expected to learn what it felt like so soon. The most notable thing he found was that he was losing his will to fight back. He didn’t want to die, but his body was giving up.

“You kill me, you start a war.” Despite his injuries, Dylan kept his confidence. He didn’t want Illumina to know he thought he was about to die. “Clay will find you. He’ll know you did this. And if he wasn’t such a heavy sleeper, he’d be down here kicking your ass!”

Illumina’s smirk turned into a face full of fear. “He’s here?”

Dylan smirked, knowing his plan was working. “Yeah. You really think he’d leave me here alone after Skeppy already told us you were on your way?”

Illumina looked at the staircase just long enough to allow Dylan time to drag himself towards his wristwatch communicator that slid across the floor when he went through the table. He shoved it in his pocket just in time to hide it from Illumina as he looked back towards him. “I’ll tell you what, kid. I’ll keep you alive just long enough to see Clay die, then, I’ll kill you.”

The thought of having to watch Clay die killed what little spirit he had left in him. He already lost his dad. He couldn’t lose the only other father figure in his life. He knew he wouldn’t live long enough to watch Clay die, but thinking about it hurt him enough.

“Or maybe I should kill his little boyfriend, first? What do you think of that, kid?”

“Don’t you fucking touch George!” Dylan said as loud as he could, which was barely louder than a whisper. “I’ll kill you!”

Illumina kicked Dylan in the stomach, causing him to cry out in pain again. Dylan felt something inside of him pop, but he couldn’t tell if he broke a rib or hurt one of his organs. All he knew was that it hurt a lot. Dylan coughed up a little blood, which only added to the large pool of dark liquid that was staining the carpet as well as the side of his face and neck.

“You won’t win this one, kid.”

“Don’t fucking call me a kid, asshole.”

“I’ll call you whatever I want! Keep talking back and I’ll kill you right now.”

“I’m a bad bitch,” Dylan mumbled. “You can’t kill me.”

“Watch me.” Illumina pulled Dylan up and dragged him towards the entrance to the basement. He kicked open the door and threw Dylan down the stairs. By the time he reached the bottom, Dylan was no longer moving. With a smirk, Illumina slammed the basement door, leaving Dylan alone in the dark. Dylan felt his body give up. He tried focusing on his breathing, but struggled to keep himself inhaling at a steady pace. All he could do was lay on the cold, tile ground as he patiently waited for the sweet release of death. Just before he fell unconscious, he heard a voice echo through his head.

It was his mom’s voice.

“I love you.”

He closed his eyes as he held his arms close to his chest.

“I love you too.”

**A/N: If you decided to skip the ending scene due to possibly triggering events, all you missed was Illumina attacking Dylan. Unfortunately, Dylan did not win this fight.**

———

Word Count: 4341

If you wish to yell at me for my poor life decisions that led to me hurting Dylan, you should join my discord! Link below. 🙈

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Published: October 28th


	36. Chapter 34

“DRIVE!” Thundah yelled as she clutched her seat cushion. 

“I’M FUCKING DRIVING!” Amb screamed back, pressing his foot harder onto the acceleration. 

“THEN DRIVE FASTER!” Sprite yelled as she once again tried to call Dylan. She slammed her phone onto the floorboards after her ninth attempt to call Dylan failed. The last thing she heard during their phone call was a gunshot, which scared her to death. 

“Guys, we need to stay calm,” Feni said, trying to convince herself to stay calm than her teammates. “I’m sure everything will be alright. Have you been able to get a hold of Dylan’s team yet?”

Sprite shook her head. “Zak won’t pick up.” 

“Try Darryl then! He’ll pick up!” 

Sprite grabbed her phone from the floorboards and dialed his number, hoping that he’d answer. 

  
  
  
  


The waiter brought out a small, plastic box that carried Dylan’s dessert to the table as George and Clay laughed together. Clay had spent the last ten minutes retelling one of his many stories he had from being a stripper during his previous mission. This one in particular was the story of how he had to learn how to dance. Clay was laughing from embarrassment while George was entertained by it. 

“Wait, so you like, had to get more flexible just to go undercover?” George asked through giggles. 

“Yeah. You know, it’s not really that funny.” 

“ _ Yes, it is!  _ Clay, you learned how to dance just to work for Forte!” 

Clay rolled his eyes as a smile grew across his face. “It’s whatever. On the plus side, I know how to ballroom dance.” 

“Wait, really?!” 

“Yeah, Ruby taught me how when I was learning how to pole dance.”

George leaned on his hand. “I wish I could dance. I’m awful at it.”

Clay grabbed his hand. “I’d love to teach you, sometime. Maybe I can teach you on our next date?” 

“Oh, there’s gonna be a second date?”

Clay leaned in slightly. “I mean, if you’d want to, I’d love to take you out again.” 

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I’d like that.” George then noticed Clay’s gaze shift from his eyes down to his lips. George knew what he wanted because he wanted the same thing. The two leaned into each other, but just before their lips touched, George’s phone rang. He reluctantly picked it up without even seeing who was calling. “Hello?”

“GEORGE!” Darryl yelled on the other end. George turned on the speakerphone so that Clay could hear everything. Darryl sounded incredibly stressed and panicked, so he figured Clay should listen to it too. “Technoblade isn’t working alone! Dylan was right! You need to get back to Clay’s place, NOW!” 

“Woah, calm down. What’s happening?” 

“George, we know who the next agent target is. You two need to get home NOW!” 

Just then, Clay’s communicator began going off loudly. “Why is it beeping so loud?” George asked. 

Clay began shaking. “It means an agent is in distress and their team isn’t responding.” He looked up, his eyes full of fear. It all clicked in George’s head. The two both spoke in unison as they realized they had to get home as fast as they could. 

“ _ Dylan! _ ”

  
  
  


Sprite didn’t wait for the car to stop when they pulled up to Clay’s house. She jumped out of the car and ran straight to the door, not even stopping to make sure the coast was clear. She tugged on the front door and cursed under her breath when she found that it was locked. By the time the other three reached her, she was already sprinting to the side of the house to try and open a window. Her heart stopped when she found the window by the kitchen shattered. Amb offered his arm out to support her weight as she carefully stepped over the shattered glass, doing her best not to cut herself. Once she was through, she looked around to make sure they were clear before waving everyone else in. 

The first thing Sprite noticed was a trail of blood that stretched across the kitchen tile. The corner of the island was also covered in the same crimson liquid. It still looked fresh, which made Sprite feel sick to her stomach. If Dylan sent that SOS, then that meant that he was injured badly. There was also blood splattered across the counters, telling Sprite that he had been possibly shot multiple times. 

The blood trail continued into the living room where the glass coffee table was also broken. The metal frame that held the glass was bent in an unnatural way, and the floor was bloodied. The TV stand across from it had an even larger pool of blood along with a blood trail leading to the basement door. Sprite held her stomach as she looked at the scene. Someone had struggled quite a bit, and Sprite knew Dylan was not safe. 

She looked at the basement door and shook her head. “I can’t look. I can’t.” 

Amb cocked his gun and began the walk to the basement. A walk that took fifteen seconds felt like it took half an hour as dread settled into Amb’s stomach. He never had a solid relationship with Dylan, but he didn’t want to see him dead, either. He mentally prepared himself to find a body as he opened the door and turned on the light. Down the stairs, he saw Dylan’s lifeless body on the floor. 

Amb heard Sprite gasp and fall into Feni as Thundah practically ran down the stairs. She got on her knees and lifted Dylan’s black hair up to inspect the large gash on his forehead. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be in a peaceful sleep. She backed up and looked at Amb. “I think he’s dead.” Feni tried to go down the steps to help, but Sprite held her tighter as she hid her face from the sight. 

Amb walked down the stairs and slightly tilted Dylan’s head up, giving himself the perfect angle to check his pulse. He held his breath as he placed his fingers under his chin, ready to pronounce him dead. 

_ But he wasn’t. _

“I’ve got a pulse!” Amb yelled excitedly. 

Dylan coughed and slightly opened his eyes. “Amb, get your cold ass fingers off of my neck.” 

“It’s good to see you too,” Thundah said, a half-smile on her face. She looked down at his hands and saw that one hand had his phone, the other had his communicator. “Why did you send an S.O.S. if you had your phone?” 

“I was being an asshole, so my team blocked me. I still sent them all a message because I’m not making it out of here alive. I passed out before I could finish.” 

“You’re not gonna die, Dylan,” Amb reassured him. He glanced at his phone and saw that he was in the middle of sending Sprite a goodbye text, which only hurt his heart. Amb shoved his gun into the hem of his jeans as he wrapped an arm around Dylan. “Thundah, help me carry him out of here.” Thundah got on the other side of Dylan and the two helped him up. 

“He’s still here,” Dylan whimpered as he felt the pain in his broken leg. 

“Who?” Amb asked. All it took was one dirty look from Dylan and Amb immediately knew it was Illumina. 

“Why are you helping me anyway, Amb? Don’t you hate me or something?” 

Amb bit the inside of his cheek. “I never hated you.” 

When Amb and Thundah got closer to the stairs, Sprite mustered up the courage to look at Dylan for the first time. His dark hair was stuck to his face with blood and sweat. The whole right side of his face was stained red and the brown iris of his right eye now looked more maroon. Sprite was sure he had a good amount of internal bleeding as well based off of his extremely red lips. She felt sick as she imagined having to cough up the metallic tasting liquid. He had taken quite a beating, yet somehow, she thought he was as cute as ever. Her eyes met his and she smiled kindly, tucking a strand of his hair behind his ear. “Hey, handsome.” 

Dylan let out a nearly silent laugh. “Hey. Fancy seeing you here.” 

“We’re going to get you out of here,” Feni said, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s stay fast and quiet.” She grabbed Sprite’s hand and pulled her up the stairs as Amb and Thundah tried to be as careful as possible while helping Dylan up. 

“So, where are the other gremlins you work with? Avocado and Cat?”

“They distracted the guards while we stole a car to come help you,” Sprite explained. “We knew Illumina wanted to kill another person and, after looking at everything we were told, we knew it was you.” 

“You guys stole a car?” 

“To be fair, I was against it,” Feni stated, attempting to defend herself. “But we needed to get to you and no one from your team answered their phone until we called Darryl. Cat and Avocado were the best people to distract the escorts.” 

The five of them froze when they heard the sound of boots clicking down the stairs. Sprite and Feni both drew their guns as Thundah and Amb picked up their pace. Dylan held his breath and closed his eyes as he tried to suppress his cries of pain. By the time they made it to the top of the stairs, Illumina walked into the living room. 

Illumina drew his gun and aimed at Dylan. “One more step with him and I shoot.” 

“He’s got a bulletproof vest. Be smart,” Dylan warned. 

“Put the kid down and we won’t have a problem.”

Feni raised her gun to fire, but nothing happened. “Shit, it’s jammed!” 

“GET DOWN!” Amb yelled as he dropped Dylan. He grabbed his own gun and fired at Illumina, hitting him in his shoulder. Dylan fell against Thundah, making her gag as he bled on her. Sprite raised her gun to fire, but Amb forced her hand down. “Save your bullets and get Dylan out of here. Thundah and Feni will have to carry him, so I’ll need you to stay brave and protect them, okay?” 

“What about you?” Sprite asked. Amb looked down, then at Illumina. “Amb, no!” 

“He won’t make it much longer, Sprite. Get out of the house, you hear me?!” 

“I won’t leave you!” 

Another gunshot goes off, followed by Dylan’s scream. “FUCK!” They both look to find a new bullet wound in his already broken leg. 

Amb fires again at Illumina, but he takes cover behind the wall by the staircase. “Anna, listen to me. I need you to survive.” 

“No, I can’t leave you,” Feni cried as she and Thundah lifted Dylan. “I’m not going to let you do this.” 

“I won’t either,” Dylan .groaned “You’re not dying because of me.” 

“You’re right, I’m not. I’m dying  _ for  _ you.” 

“Sprite, take Dylan,” Thundah ordered. “Amb has a better chance of survival if I help.” Sprite didn’t object, but began to cry. Dylan moaned as Thundah handed him off to Sprite, who struggled to keep him up. Thundah pulled out her gun and nodded at Amb. 

“Please stay alive, you two,” Feni whispered. “I’m begging.” 

“If you get Dylan out alive, I promise I’ll make it out in one piece too,” Amb responded. 

“HEY, ASSHOLE!” Thundah yelled as she fired into the wall he was behind. “AREN’T SO SCARY NOW, ARE YOU?!” Feni and Sprite began to move towards the kitchen to make their escape as they cried, listening to the scene behind them.” 

Thundah fired again. “Show yourself, bitch!” 

“Thundah, you need to stay calm,” Amb reminded her. 

Thundah shook her head. “Fuck calm. You don’t get to ruin my life and expect me to stay calm.” She approached the wall, ready to kill. But when she turned the corner, Illumina was gone. Before Thundah could call out and warn everyone of his disappearance, Sprite screamed in the kitchen when he entered. 

Sprite and Feni dropped to the ground behind the kitchen island, Dylan nearly falling on top of Sprite. Illumina laughed. “I thought you guys were agents! Why is this so fucking easy?!” 

Amb and Thundah both ran into the kitchen, but Illumina grabbed Thundah and pressed the barrel of his gun under her chin. She went still, knowing he’d kill her if she fought back. “One more move and I blow her brains out!” 

“I don’t feel great,” Dylan whispered as he began to fall over onto Sprite. 

She caught his head and began whispering under her breath, tapping his face to keep him awake. “Stay with me, Dylan. Please, stay awake!” 

Amb held his hands up in the air as Illumina approached the side of the island. “Here’s how this is gonna go!” he started. “I’m going to kill the kid. Then, I’ll kill his little girlfriend and this one in my arms. I’ll consider letting the mom and the asshole go if they’re on best behavior.” 

Dylan opened his eyes and looked at Sprite above him. “Stay strong. Please.” His voice was so weak, Sprite almost didn’t hear him. 

“I can’t, Dylan,” Sprite responded. Tears began falling from her eyes and onto Dylan’s face as his eyes fluttered closed.

Amb looked at Dylan. “I just want you to know, I hope that when I die, you lower me into my grave so you can let me down one last time.”

“Amb, please don’t,” Dylan mumbled, forcing himself to open his eyes again. 

“See you on the other side, Agent Mega.” Amb then charged at Illumina and pinned him against the wall, slamming his hand against the wall to force the gun out of his grasp.

Seeing an opening, Feni and Sprite picked Dylan up off of the ground and rushed to the front door, desperate to escape. Just as they were about to exit, a gunshot rang out. 

The last thing Dylan heard was Sprite scream as the world around him went black.

———

Word Count: 2360

I has discord. You join mine discord. Discord.

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Published: October 29th


	37. Chapter 35

By the time Clay and George had pulled up to the scene, the house was surrounded by other agents, police cars, and an ambulance. Clay quickly put his car in park, and the two jumped out, practically tripping over themselves to see what happened. Clay took the lead, grabbing George’s hand and pulling him through the ground to where the crowd met the police tape. When they made it to the front, everyone fell silent as they watched two men carry a body bag out of the home. 

Clay’s grip around George’s hand tightened. “We’re too late.” George grabbed Clay and pulled him into a tight embrace, feeling himself going into shock. Dylan was gone, and it all could’ve been avoided if they hadn’t blocked him. George felt incredibly guilty until he saw Zak, Darryl, and Nick standing beside someone badly beaten on a stretcher. 

George gasped and pushed Clay off of him to turn him around. “Clay! Clay, look!” He pointed at the dark-haired teen unconscious on the stretcher. “He’s not dead!” George pulled Clay and dashed in between everyone to reach where his friends were standing. When he got to the other side of the crowd, he also saw Jude, Jake, Geo, and Vincent exchanging nervous glances with each other. Tommy and Toby were there, but they stood more off to the side, silently watching everything happening. 

As Darryl talked to the paramedic about Dylan, Zak couldn’t take his eyes off of Dylan. He wasn’t dead  _ yet _ . When George and Clay approached, he still didn’t look away. “You know, Dylan was annoying. He pushed my buttons, and I honestly didn’t think I cared much for him.” He took a breath. “Turns out, I fucking love him, and I’d die if he died.” He looked up from Dylan to meet Clay’s eyes. “You did good, Clay.”

“What?” Clay was confused by what Zak was trying to say. 

“Dylan was an asshole when I first met him,” Zak stated. “But now, he’s a lovable asshole. He’s  _ my _ lovable asshole.” 

Darryl walked over and wrapped an arm around Zak. “He’s going to be okay, Zak. He survived the attack. The doctors will take care of him, and he’ll recover.” 

“He’ll recover physically, you mean,” Zak corrected. “I have a feeling none of us will ever recover from this mentally.” 

“Well, I’m already fucked up,” Nick laughed. “I doubt this will make it any worse.” 

George looked around as he took in the crowd. It looked as if every agent from Forte was there. “Why are there so many people?”

“When an agent sends out an S.O.S., it alerts everyone,” Clay explained. “The rule is that every available agent needs to help when an S.O.S. is issued because it is only used when an agent is in terrible danger. This isn’t everyone, but it looks like a ton of people weren’t working tonight.”

As George continued looking at the crowd, he noticed Sprite crying into Feni’s arms as she cradled her head. Thundah stood beside them, looking numb. She wasn’t crying, but she was still obviously hurting. “So, who died?”

“Agent Ambxon,” Darryl responded. “He was one of the rogue agents. According to everyone else who came to rescue Dylan, he sacrificed himself to save him.” He closed his eyes. “I can’t even imagine how much pain his team must be in.” 

George looked down at his phone. If he hadn’t blocked Dylan, he would’ve been here sooner. An agent wouldn’t have died. Dylan wouldn’t be on the brink of death. Things wouldn’t be so bad. He angrily unblocked Dylan, vowing never to do something so stupid again. But as he put his phone away, it buzzed. He pulled it back out as he got a text from Dylan that was sent just fifteen minutes earlier. 

**Dylan**

Hey George. I don’t know how much time I have to say this. I think I might die, and I want to get to everyone before that happens. I wanted to tell you that changed my life. You taught me how to love someone, even when they are at their worst. You taught me how to see the light in the darkness when the world starts caving in. And lastly, you taught me how to take care of myself. Without you, I don’t think I would’ve made it through all of this shit. Thank you for always being there for me, even when I made it hard. I know I’m not the easiest person in the world to handle, but you never made me feel like I was a burden. One day, I know you will inspire other young agents, just like you inspired me. Thank you, brother. I love you. 

Signing off for one last time,

Agent Mega 

P.S.- Don’t forget to invest in a few bowties ;)

  
  


George felt his throat run dry. His chest became heavy as he looked at Dylan. He was always the sarcastic kid who didn’t care about anything or anyone, but here he was, pouring his heart out into a text. He held his phone close to his heart as he let himself cry.

Clay noticed George’s sudden change in emotion. “Hey, what’s wrong?” 

“Unblock Dylan,” George ordered. “You won’t regret it.” Clay did what he was told and unblocked Dylan, then promptly got a text from him.

**Dylan**

Hey. I don’t know what to say to you. Sometimes I hate you. Like, a lot. You push my buttons, and you treat me like a child, and you stress me out. But, through it all, you were the only one to believe in me. You were the one that got me hired at Forte. You were the one that let me stay with you so I could pass my paychecks onto my mom. You were the one that taught me that sometimes the only family you need are the people beside you. I grew up without a father, but you quickly stepped in to teach me right from wrong. I love you. So much. I’ll never forget the lessons you taught me, so do me a favor, and never forget me.

I’ll see you soon, asshole.

Mega 

Clay bit his lower lip as he finished reading. “Wow. I don’t know what to say.” He shakily puts his phone into his pocket. “He better make it.” 

“He will,” George responded, turning Clay’s head towards him. “Dylan is a fighter. He won’t give up. I know he won’t.” 

Clay nodded. “Right. Thank you, George.” 

George pulled Clay down to his level and kissed his cheek. “You don’t have to thank me.” 

“So,” a deep voice loudly said, breaking up their sweet moment. They both turned to find Techno standing beside them. “Now that Agent Mega is out of commission, we should discuss the future of your team.” 

At first, George couldn’t believe Techno was so calm and willing to be near them. But then he remembered that Techno doesn’t know that they know about his involvement. George looked at Clay from the corner of his eye and saw that he looked ready to stab Techno. George grabbed his hand and squeezed, attempting to remind Clay of this fact silently. Clay looked down at their hands and relaxed a little. 

But, unlike Clay, Zak wasn’t about to stay calm. “Oh, hi, Techno! How can we help you?” The way Zak talked scared George. His words and his expression was friendly, but there was something about Zak’s expressive brown eyes that gave off an angry vibe. “What are we talking about?”

“Well, we need to replace Dylan now that he’s on his deathbed,” Technoblade explained. 

Zak’s fake smile faded. “You motherfucker! You take that back!” Zak lunged at Techno, just barely being stopped by Nick who walked up behind him. “I’m sure you’d love it if he died, wouldn’t you? WOULDN’T YOU, ASSHOLE?!” 

“Zak, that’s enough!” Nick yelled as he did his best to fight against Zak. George knew that Nick was struggling with his own inner battle as he looked at Techno. “We need to keep our cool. I know there’s a lot going through our minds, but we need to stay calm.” He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself to stay calm and not Zak. 

Technoblade narrows his eyes. “Do we have a problem here, agents?” 

“Nope!” Darryl chirped. “No problem here! I’ll contact you tomorrow regarding Dylan’s departure from the team. Techno slowly nodded and then walked away. Darryl’s happy expression faded and he turned back to Zak. “I know you’re hurting, but we need to keep our heads. Until we can figure out a way to get him arrested, we need to pretend like we don’t know.”

Zak’s jaw tightened as he glared at Technoblade. “I’ll never be able to be in the same room alone with him. You can mess with me all you want, but you mess with a kid, and we’re gonna have a problem.” 

Nick released Zak as soon as he thought Technoblade was far enough away to keep Zak from going after him. “You know what? When this is all over, I’ll gladly help you beat his ass.” 

George looked back over at the rogue agents standing together. Sprite was tightly clutching a phone in her hand, shaking her head as tears rolled down her face. “I can’t tell them. I just can’t.” As George approached them, his heart began to hurt for her. “How am I going to tell Avocado and Cat that Amb is dead, Feni? I can’t.” 

“I already told you to let me do it,” Feni barely manages to respond. “Let me handle this.” 

Feni reached for the phone, but Sprite yanked it away. “No! You can’t do it and Thundah can’t either. I have to be the one to make the call.” Sprite hit Cat’s contact and held the phone up to her ear. “Hey, um, Zane? I need to tell you something.” She covered her mouth and closed her eyes. “It’s about Slater. He, um, he-” She squeaked as she choked on her own sobs. “I can’t do this.” 

Without thinking, George snagged the phone from her hand and held it up to his own ear. “This is Agent 404. I’m here with your teammates. I regret to inform you that-”

“I know Slater is dead, George,” Cat stated coldly. “She didn’t have to say it. I knew the second she started talking.” He sighed. “Fuck. I would’ve never thought he’d be the one to die. Do you know how it happened?” 

“Well, he came to the house with the others from your team. I don’t have any details, but from what I can tell, it appears that he was trying to protect everyone.” 

“Of course he was. That’s the kind of thing he did. But  _ why _ was he there in the first place, George?”

While George was never given an actual answer as to why they were there, he had a pretty solid guess. “I think he was there because of Dylan.” 

Cat scoffed. “And let me guess. Dylan lived, huh?” 

“I, uh-” 

“Of course he fucking did. The one time we try to help you is the one time you fuck it all up. What am I supposed to tell Avery, huh?! How am I going to explain to them that they just lost one of the few people they considered family?” Cat took a breath in as he tried to figure out what to say next. “You had one job, George. You were supposed to protect that kid. I’ve known him for a while, and I haven’t seen him open up to many people. You just happened to be one of the people he chose to trust and feel comfortable with. Now look where that got him.” George’s hands started shaking. He knew that Cat was just upset, but part of him thought the same thing that Cat was saying. He should’ve been there, and he wasn’t. “Put me back on the phone with Anna.” 

George listened to the demand and handed the phone back to Sprite. She held it up to her ear. Even though the phone wasn’t on speaker, George could still hear Cat’s harsh words. “You should’ve done better, Anna. Now, Slater is dead. At least I can go to sleep tonight without his blood on my hands.” Sprite didn’t give him time to say anything else. She promptly hung up and handed the phone back to Feni, crying harder than she was before. 

“It’s not your fault, Anna,” Thundah said as she patted her back. “No one could’ve prevented this.” She looked up at George. “Not even you, 404.” 

George nodded at her, then left to return to his team, looking over his shoulder to make sure they were going to be okay. He would’ve never thought that he’d care so much about the team that used to be his enemies, but he couldn’t help but feel their pain. He returned to his group just in time to watch the paramedics load Dylan into the back of the ambulance. Clay grabbed the side of the car to pull himself in with them, but Darryl stopped him. 

“Clay, you stay here with George, okay?” Darryl asked gently. “Zak and I will make sure he lives. You need to focus on taking care of yourself.” 

“I can’t just leave him, Darryl,” Clay whispered. 

Darryl placed his hands on his shoulders. “If he were here, he’d tell you to suck it up and threaten to stab you, right?” 

Clay sadly smiled. “What does that have to do with anything?” 

“He wouldn’t want you crying for him.” Darryl glanced at George. “Besides, I think someone else could use your comfort right now.” 

Clay followed his gaze, then nodded. “You’re right. Thank you, Darryl.” 

Darryl looked back at the ambulance for a moment. “It looks like I’ve got a few minutes, so I was wondering if I could get your opinion on something?”

“Go for it.”

Darryl immediately began to blush. He cleared his throat, then talked in a hushed voice. “I want to ask Zak to move in with me, but I don’t know if it’s too soon yet.”

“Everyone goes at their own pace, Darryl. If you think you both are ready for that, then go for it!” 

Darryl’s eyes lit up. “You think so? I’ll talk to him about it later tonight.” Darryl gestured to George and Nick chatting together. “How are you two doing?”

“It’s hard to say, but he does make me happy. I just hope that I can return the favor one day.” 

“You already do, Clay. You two just need to talk it out.”

“We talked a lot of our issues out during our date.” Clay’s smile grew in size. “I think I’m in love.” 

Darryl motioned to George. “Then go get him!” 

Clay nodded. “I will. Thank you.”

Darryl gave him a hug. “Anything for a friend.” He pulled away, grabbed Zak’s hand, then disappeared into the back of the ambulance just as the doors shut. 

Clay walked over to George and grabbed his hand. “We’re gonna be okay.” 

“You’re right,” George agreed. 

“And Dylan is gonna make it.” 

“Yep.” 

“And by this time next week, everyone will be happy.” 

“Uh-huh.”

“And now you want to kiss me.” 

“Ye- wait a damn minute.” 

Clay laughed. “I almost got you there, didn’t I?”

George glanced up. “I mean, I’m not saying no.” He watched as Clay struggled to form words. He rolled his eyes, grabbed the back of Clay’s head, and pulled him in, planted a gentle kiss on his lips. When he pulled back, he met Clay’s wide, green eyes. He was even more speechless than he was before. “We should go grab a hotel room for the night.” 

“Wait,  _ what _ ?” Clay asked, becoming a nervous wreck. 

George laughed. “You know because the house is a terrifying mess right now? I kind of don’t want to stay there, personally.” 

Clay looked away from George, embarrassed that he let his mind wander so far. “Right. You’re right. I can get us a room at my hotel.” 

“Hey, Nick!” George called out. Nick, who was talking to Tommy and Toby, turned around and waved. “Do you need a place to stay tonight?” 

Nick shook his head. “I’m just going back home tonight. You two have fun.” Before he left, he crossed his arms and looked at Clay. “And if you break his heart, I will hunt you down and kill you. Don’t think I won’t.”

Clay looked at George and squeezed his hand. “I’d never hurt someone I’m in love with. We should get going. I’ll call you tomorrow to discuss our next course of action.”

“Alright, goodnight, you two,” Nick said with a wink. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

———

Word Count: 2804

Don't hate meeeee. I love Dylan. I could never kill him. Now join the discord so you can yell at me for scaring you.

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Published: October 30th


	38. Chapter 36

George walked into the conference room, not expecting to find Zak sitting alone in the dark at one of the tables. He had his legs pulled up to his chest and a folder full of papers on the table in front of him. He didn't look up when he heard the door open, but he did whisper, "Hey."

"What are you working on here?" George asked as he approached the table.

Zak grabbed one of the papers and handed them to George. It was some sort of quiz that talked about some kind of coding method that George was unfamiliar with. On top of the page was the name, "Slater a.k.a. Ambxon." Beside it was a large "100%" written in red ink.

"What are you doing with this?" George asked.

"Amb was always one of the top students I taught," Zak responded as he picked up another paper with his name on it. "Amb was a smart kid. He took every lesson seriously and usually had one of the highest test scores. That's why he and Dylan constantly argued. Dylan was always causing chaos, while Amb just wanted everyone to be calm and do their tasks." He placed the test paper back onto the table. "This isn't the first time I've lost one of my students, but it still hurts like hell. Like, I spend months training them, hoping they have all of the skills they need to succeed. I got to know every one of my students on a personal level, so hearing that one of them died hurts so much." Zak's bottom lip began to quiver. "To make it worse, Amb died saving the same kid he tried so hard to hate. He was selfless and caring, and now he's just...gone."

George took a seat beside him and took the paper out of his hand. "Hey, it's going to be okay."

"I know it is. One day, I'll move on, and I'll be fine." He pulled his cyan hoodie over his hands. "Just not today." He wiped under his eyes and sniffled. "I'll be fine soon. That's all that matters."

The lights flickered to life above them. "Guys?" Darryl called out. "Everything okay?"

Zak wiped his face one last time and forced himself to smile. "Hey, Darrie! Just finishing up some paperwork real quick." He slammed the folder closed and got up from the seat. George watched with concern in his eyes as Zak continued his charade. "I'll be back in a second. I just have to put this away. Don't wait up!"

Darryl sensed that something was wrong, but he decided not to press Zak for information. He'd talk when he was ready. "Okay, Zak. Take care of yourself." He watched as Zak left, holding the folder close to his chest.

George stood up from his seat. As soon as Zak was out of earshot, George decided to tell Darryl what was going on. "He was in here, crying. He's torn up about Amb's death."

Darryl nodded. "I know. He's been trying to put on a brave face, but Zak isn't that good of an actor around me. I'm naive, but I'm not blind." Darryl went to the other side of the room and grabbed a large whiteboard that sat on a set of wheels. He rolled it out towards the table and grabbed one of the markers as Clay and Nick walked in, both holding a can of Nick's carbonated melon milk.

"You were right," Clay admitted. "This does slap."

"I told you!" Nick smiled to himself. "Finally, someone listened to me."

When Clay saw George, he smirked. "George, I'd like you to meet my new best friend: Nick!"

George raised his eyebrows playfully at Nick. "I'm being replaced now, huh?"

Nick shrugged. "What can I say? You never drank my milk." Clay wheezed loudly and nearly fell over, and Nick processed what he had just said. "Oh, shit. That's not what I meant."

"Can we just get started?" Darryl asked.

Clay shook his head. "Not yet. I'm waiting for someone."

"Zak said we could start without him," Darryl explained.

"Sorry, I'm late!" a new voice called. George looked up as Wilbur entered the room. "Security was giving me problems."

Clay motioned to Wilbur. "That's who I was waiting for."

Wilbur nervously smiled as he sat in a seat beside George. "Hey. Hope you're doing well."

George stared at Wilbur for a moment. This was the first time that Wilbur didn't look ready to kill him. "Um, hi?"

Wilbur looked away. "Sorry, this is probably weird for you."

"A little bit, yeah."

"Wilbur here is offering his help," Clay explained.

Darryl gave him a suspicious look. "How do we know we can trust him?"

"You don't have much of a choice right now," Wilbur responded. "I know things that you guys don't. Like, I know where he works during the day."

"Wouldn't Clay know that?" Nick asked.

"He has a different office," Clay explained. "He works somewhere else now."

"I can also get you into the building and into his computer where he keeps his plans." Wilbur stood up from his seat, grabbed one of the dry erase markers, and wrote out a long string of letters and numbers on the board. "This is the password to his computer. He has a folder on his desktop that has everything in it from agents' medical records to security footage of you guys. He also has information in there about some sort of business deal going on in the next few days. If you can get those plans, you can control the game he's playing."

"How the hell do you know that?" Clay asked.

Wilbur frowned. "You aren't the only one who's tried to stop him. I spent time learning his passwords and where everything was kept. I made it far when I tried to get rid of him myself, but he nearly caught me. I got too scared to try again."

Nick stared at the board, lost in his thoughts for a moment. "Okay, I just want to think out loud real quick. What if we get someone on the inside who can gain his trust, then have them take him down from the inside? Like, they can sabotage the plans and mess everything up so we get Illumina alone. God, what's that kind of plan called? It's a sabotage and demolition job, but I can't remember how to classify this mission."

"A 'Bang and Burn'," Clay responds. "That's the kind of work my team did a lot. That's always where Dylan excelled. But there's no way in hell I'm letting us do this."

"Why not?" George asked.

"Because doing this would mean sending you in after Illumina." Clay's eyes met George's for a split second, then he looked away, unable to think about watching George put himself in danger. "We've seen what Illumina did to Dylan, and he was one of the best fighters I've ever met. I don't want to see what he'd do to you, George. I can't watch you get hurt."

"George is our best shot, Clay!" Nick pointed out. "Not only is this part of his job description, but Illumina knows that you two are close. If George can convince him that he wants to work with him, he'd be our ticket in." Clay only huffed in response. "Look, I don't want George getting hurt either, and I won't force him to do this if he doesn't want to, but this may be our one chance at winning. Don't you want to get back at him for what he did to Dylan? Or to those other victims? Or what about what he did to you, huh? You're just going to let him get away with that?"

"It's not about revenge," Darryl reminded Nick. "Don't lose sight of that."

Nick relaxed in his seat. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"I'll do it," George said nervously. His voice was shaky despite trying his best to sound tough. "I'll honeytrap Illumina."

Clay looked at Darryl, hoping he'd tell George no, but he did the opposite. "If you feel that you're ready, then I'll allow it."

Clay scoffed as he fell back in his chair, not believing his ears. "I hate this."

George patted his arm. "It's okay, I'll be okay. I promise! It'll be a piece of cake!"

George quickly discovered it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be as they pulled up to Illumina's office building. He looked out the window at the tall building, feeling his heart begin to race. To make matters worse, he was dressed in a tight, white button-up shirt. If he started sweating, it'd show.

"You okay, George?" Nick asked as he adjusted George's earpiece.

George didn't take his eyes off of the building. "Yeah, just nervous."

"You'll do great, George!" Darryl reassured him.

Nick hit a button on George's earpiece, then walked back. "You're ready. You can go in whenever. Wilbur sent you the suite number, so all you have to do is walk in and go up the elevator."

George nodded and reached for the door handle, but Clay stopped him by grabbing his arm. He kissed his cheek and forced a smile. "Don't die, please. I kinda want to take you on a second date that doesn't end in disaster."

George exhales a quiet laugh. "I'll try." He then exited the van and made his way inside.

The inside of the building reminded him of Forte's office building, but there weren't as many people. Everything inside was pristine and perfect. George felt bad walking on the floor, worried that he'd leave footprints on the perfectly clean floors. Everything had a shine to it, even the elevator. He hit the call button and waited a few seconds before the doors opened. George checked his communicator, and double-checked the message from Wilbur before hitting the button to the fifth floor, ready to face Illumina. The elevator doors opened to a hallway that had a carpet pattern similar to the carpet pattern from, "The Shining", leaving George with an unsettling feeling in his stomach. He made his way down the hall to suite "505" and let himself in.

Somehow, this part of the building looked even nicer than the lobby. The entire place was decorated in red and black decor, all shiny and new. The air smelt clean as well, which only added to George's nerves of messing anything up. He approached the secretary desk and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, miss?" George asked with a smile. "I'm here to see Illumina. Does he have a few moments?"

The secretary took her glasses off and placed them on her head. "I can ring him. What name should I give?"

"George."

The secretary nodded, then hit a button on her call machine. "Excuse me, sir, but you've got a visitor named George here to see you!"

Illumina then excitedly busted through the door behind the secretary. "God damn. I was not expecting to see you here."

"Turn on that charm, George!" Nick encouraged him through his earpiece. "He's excited to see you, so you've got this!"

George pulled on the collar of his shirt and smirked. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

Illumina held the door open and motioned for George to come in. "I've got a few minutes if you don't mind following me." George went around the secretary desk and followed Illumina into his office. The room was big, with a large window being the only light source keeping everything bright. Illumina gestured for George to sit in the chair in front of his desk. "How can I help you, George?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Clay."

"He told you he was an agent, didn't he?" George nodded. "You know, his choice in occupation has nearly been the death of me. I hate those agents. They think they can do whatever they want because they are doing shit for the 'greater good' or whatever."

"I agree. That's why we broke up."

"Dream to 404. What the hell are you doing?"

George leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. "I was hoping I could help you with your mission."

"What do you mean?" Illumina asked.

"I know you want to hurt Clay. Let me help you."

"As happy as this is making me, what do you have that can help me?"

"He's in love with me, Illumina."

"Do you still have feelings for him?"

George smiled, his eyes slightly closed. "I've got my eyes on someone else."

Illumina smiled wickedly. "Is that so? You know that'd break him, right?"

George leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on the edge of Illumina's desk. "Isn't that the point?"

Illumina's phone rang, interrupting the moment. "Shit, I need to take this. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."

George winked. "You got it." George then followed Illumina with his eyes until he left. Once the door was completely closed, he sprung up and rushed to Illumina's computer, quickly typing in the password that he memorized from their meeting earlier. "I'm in!"

"This is Wilbur. Can you hear me?"

"Hearing you loud and clear," George responded.

"Great. In the top right of his screen, there should be a folder labeled, 'Port Jobs'. Find it and open it."

George skimmed over the icons on his desktop, then spotted the right folder. He opened it up to find rows and rows of documents. "What now?"

"Locate and open a document called 'Arms Deliveries'."

"Done." The document had rows and rows of pickup locations, dates, and various money amounts.

"This is the document he uses when picking up gun deliveries. There should be a delivery tomorrow. Find it and tell me the name of the location."

George searched the document for the right date, then scrolled to the right to get the location. "It says 'EZ Dock of Tampa'."

"Change that to 'Port 32 Marina'."

"Done."

"Perfect! Now, exit out of everything and log off, then get the hell out of there."

George shut everything down and got back in his seat just in time to watch Illumina walk in. He didn't even have to come up with an excuse to leave, because Illumina said, "Sorry, but a meeting came up. Leave your number on my notepad, and I'll call you sometime tomorrow if I can!"

"Ok!" George stood up and grabbed the yellow notepad, then stopped Illumina just before he left the room again. "Hey, why were you so excited to see me?"

Illumina smiled. "I always thought you were cute. It's exciting to see that I may have you for myself now."

George giggled as Illumina closed the door behind him. As soon as he was in the clear, he gagged. "Fuuuuuuuck I hated that exchange."

"It'S eXcItInG tO sEe ThAt I mAy HaVe YoU fOr MySeLf NoW," Clay mocked. "Please, no one wants to touch his crusty ass."

"Language, you two!" Darryl yelled. "Well, what number are you going to write down, George? He will be expecting a phone number out of you."

George thought for a moment, then laughed. "Hey, what's that phone number for the 'How to Keep an Idiot Busy' hotline thing?"

Clay wheezed, as Nick said, "Let me pull it up for you, buddy."

———

Word Count: 2555

Discord time babyyyyyy. Woooooooooo. Come say hiiiiiiiiiiii.

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Published: November 4th


	39. Chapter 37

Clay never had hatred towards hospitals, but after having to visit the same one so many times recently, he would’ve been just fine not having to come back. But he had to be here. Not only was he here to see Dylan, but he had a gift this time. He had no idea how he was going to present this gift and he was sure that Dylan would try to kill him once he saw it, but it was a gift that had to be given. He didn’t feel bad at all. 

When he made it to the hall that Dylan was staying in, he heard a scream. Without thinking, he dashed down the hall and busted Dylan’s door open, only to find Dylan, Tommy, and Toby all on their laptops together. Dylan and Tommy were both laughing hysterically while Toby had his arms crossed. Dylan looked like he was in a mixture of intense pain and happiness at the same time.

“Where did that creeper even come from?!” Toby whined. “That was an unfair death.” 

“You can’t call it unfair when we were literally trying to tell you that you were about to be blown to bits!” Tommy barely managed to say through his laughter.

As soon as Dylan saw Clay standing in the doorway, his smile dropped and he cleared his throat. “Whatever. Just respawn.” 

“You guys seem to be having fun,” Clay said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. “It’s really nice of you two to keep Dylan company.” 

“It’s no problem!” Toby smiled, his usual happy-go-lucky attitude returning. “We’ve been having a lot of fun!” 

“How’s your eye?” Clay asked Dylan, hoping to get him to open up before his gift arrived. His right eye, which just had surgery done on it, was covered with a soft, white patch. 

Dylan shrugged. “It still hurts, but the doctors were able to save it. I won’t be a pirate this time, but I’ll have a scar under my eye.” He huffed. “I have no idea how I’m going to explain that to my mom.” 

“You busted your head open, got shot in the arm, broke two ribs and your left leg, but you’re worried about explaining the small scar under your eye?”

Dylan smiled. “When you put it that way, it sounds stupid. I just think it’ll make me look less attractive.” 

“You were already hideous, Dylan,” Tommy teased. “What was it we used to call you? The ‘Un-cute Mute’?” 

Dylan grabbed one of his pillows and threw it at Tommy. “Fuck off, dude!” The two chuckled together as Clay got a text. 

**Jake**

I just dropped her off. She is on her way up. I hope Dylan doesn’t kill you over this. 

**Clay**

Oh, he will.

Clay looked up from his phone. “Hey, boys? Would you mind giving Dylan and I some time alone?”

“Is everything okay?” Toby asked. 

Clay nodded. “Yeah, things are fine. How about I give you two some money to go get some lunch?”

“You don’t have to do that, Mr. Dream,” Toby said as he shut down his laptop. 

Tommy elbows him in the stomach. “Dude, take the goddamn money! You always take the free money!” 

Clay laughed as he pulled two twenties out of his wallet. “Go nuts.” 

Toby grabbed the money. “Thank you for lunch! We’ll be back soon!” Tommy swung the door open, nearly hitting the woman on the other side. “Shit, I’m sorry, ma’am.” 

“That’s okay. Is this Dylan’s room?”

Tommy opened the door wider to usher her in. “Dylan, looks like you have another guest.” 

Dylan instantly tensed when the woman came through the door. She looked the same way she did when he last saw her, which only saddened him. She was supposed to get better, not worse. She wore sweatpants and a blue tee shirt that was the same color as the head scarf she wore. 

“Hey, mom.” 

She weakly smiled and sat on the edge of his bed. “Hey, honey. How are you feeling?”

“Scared, terrified, and every other synonym of the word ‘scared’ that I can’t think of right now because you’re here in Florida.”

“When I got the call that you were hurt, I felt every synonym of ‘scared’ too,” she joked. “But I meant how are you feeling physically?” 

“Well, my knees are weak. My arms are heavy. Mom’s spaghetti.” 

“Dylan-” his mom said firmly. “No more jokes or sarcasm. Please talk to me.” 

“Mom, I can’t.” 

“Why not?”

“Because you’re gonna hate me when you find out.”

“When I find out what?” his mom asked. “That you escaped boarding school to live with a strange man who got you to work at a spy agency where you risk your life all the time to save people with little to no recognition?” Dylan’s jaw dropped. “If you meant that, then no, I won’t hate you. For the last time, can you please tell me how you feel?” 

“My leg hurts a lot still. It broke in two different places, once from when I was stepped on and once from when I was thrown down the stairs. My arm hurts a lot, but it isn’t my first time being shot.”

“Getting shot once doesn’t make you immune to future gunshots, genius,” his mom playfully pointed out. 

Dylan cracked a smile. “My abdomen hurts a lot. I broke a few ribs and I feel them pop every time I laugh or talk too loud. Then there’s my head and my eye, but I’m only worried they won’t heal properly.”

“Ah yes, we can’t have your already ugly face looking worse, can we?” Dylan laughed at his mom’s joke, tearing up at the pain it caused. Clay had never met Dylan’s mom before, but it was obvious that he got his speech patterns from her. Dylan’s mom leaned forward and grabbed his hand. “Honey, I wish you had told me about all of this before.”

Dylan looked at Clay. “You told her, didn’t you?” 

Clay shook his head. “Nope. Actually, Zak did. He called her and told her everything.” 

Dylan winced. “Fuck. He is probably the last person I would’ve wanted you to talk to, mom.”

“Why’s that?”

“I was an asshole to him.”

His mom smirked. “You’re an asshole to everyone.”

“No, mom, this is serious! I was such an asshole to him! I always caused problems and I made his life a living hell for  _ months _ . In fact, I’m still not done being an asshole to him!” 

His mom gave him a confused look. “Really? Cause he had nothing bad to say about you, babe. He told me about how smart and brave you are. He also told me about how you have the best jokes and that he pretends not to like them because that’ll encourage you to make more just to get a reaction out of him. That doesn’t sound like someone who thinks you are a nightmare to work with.” 

Dylan’s eyes grew wide as he thought about what to say next. “Wow. I had no idea he thought of me like that.” 

“Mmhm!” His mom then sighed. “Alright, this is the part where we have a chat about your awful career choices.” 

Dylan nodded and closed his eyes. “Do your worst.” 

“I think you made a fast decision. You didn’t stop to think about anyone else when you chose to become an agent and you went for it, abandoning your studies for what? Danger? Money? Dylan, you are a smart guy. I should know, I raised you. I sent you to the boarding school to improve your behavior, not for you to just run away and continue the violence and shit that made me send you there in the first place. What you did was idiotic and reckless.” Dylan’s mom bit her lip. “And I couldn’t be more proud.”

Dylan’s eyes shot open. “Wait, what?”

“You save people, Dylan. You go out of your way to do things that people can’t do on their own. I sent you away as a bad kid, but now, I see you as a hero. Yeah, you don’t make the best decisions, but it takes a lot for someone to put their life on the line for strangers.” She got up and walked over to the side of the bed, sat beside him, and gently cradled his head in her hands as he began to cry. “You remind me so much of your father, Dylan. He was one hell of a police officer that made a reckless decision that got him killed. When I learned about what you’re doing, I got so scared. But then I realized, you’re not your father. You’re my son and it sounds like you’ve got a team of badasses here to help look after you.”

Dylan grabbed onto her arm, pulling her closer to him. For the first time, Clay saw Dylan for who he was. He no longer had his walls up and he wasn’t trying to seem like the tough guy he always portrayed himself to be. Deep down, he was still a kid, and that was something people often forgot. 

Dylan’s mom wiped his tears with her thumbs. “Right now, I need you to recover as fast as possible so you can get back to kicking ass, okay?”

Dylan’s laugh was followed by a groan as one of his hands dropped to his side and grabbed his shirt. “I’ll try, but you have to stop making me laugh!” 

“Okay, fine. Deal. I’ll stop making my Mr. Tough guy laugh.” She got up from her spot on his bed. “I need to go check into my hotel. I’ll be back tomorrow for a visit unless you need anything!”

“Okay, thank you, mom. I’ll try to get a nap before my friends get back.” 

“Your ‘friends’?” Clay asked. 

Dylan thought for a second, then smiled. “Yeah. Friends.” He then pulled his blanket up to his neck and closed his eyes, ready to sleep. 

Clay opened the door to his room and stepped out, holding it open for his mom. As soon as they were safe in the hallway, his mom spoke, “Thank you, Dream.”

“For kidnapping your son and lowkey making him do child labor? It was no problem.” Clay suddenly felt the shame Dylan must’ve felt when he spoke to his mom. He had just as much a role in this as Dylan did.

  
  


“Actually, yeah,” Dylan’s mom admitted. “This is the first time I’ve seen him so happy.”

“Ma’am, he literally almost died and is in a lot of pain right now.”

“Just because you’re hurting, doesn’t mean you aren’t happy. I haven’t seen him so content with being himself in a long time and you helped bring that out of him, thank you.” 

Clay nodded. “Thank you for being so chill about this. If my kid was in there right now, nearly beaten to death, I’d be panicked.” 

“Clay, let me ask you something,” his mom said in a gentle tone. “How do you feel about him being in there right now?”

“I don’t know. Panicked, I guess?” 

“Clay, he’s your kid too now. After hearing Zak explain your living situation and relationship, I knew I didn’t have to worry about you hurting him because you treat him like he’s your own.” She rubbed his shoulder. “Thank you for being that father figure he was lacking.” 

Clay smiled as he reached into his pocket to grab the spare communicator Zak sent him with. He handed it to her as he looked around them to make sure the coast was clear. “Agent Skeppy will be by your hotel room tonight to set you up with your own transmitter. You remember the plan, right?”

She nodded as she shoved the communicator into her pocket. “Keep Dylan distracted while listening in to the mission to let him know when the asshole dies. Yep, all good.” 

“Okay, perfect.” Clay then noticed how unsure Dylan’s mom looked. “What’s wrong?”

“That man hurt my baby. No one hurts my baby, Dream.” She shoved her hands into her pockets. “Avenge him, please. He deserved better.” 

Clay grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. “Oh trust me, that man will have hell to pay come this time tomorrow.” 

“Thank you, Dream.” 

“Anything for Dylan.”

———

Word Count: 2061

You children have been well behaved, so I gifted you with a nice chapter before all hell breaks lose. I hope you enjoyed! Oh yeah...

_**join my fricken discord now please** _

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Published: November 5th


	40. Chapter 38

Clay walked into the gym to find George firing bullets into a target. When he finished off the magazine, he took off his protective glasses and looked at the target with a frown. He mumbled a swear as he loaded a new magazine into his gun to try again. 

“What are you doing?” Clay asked. 

“Trying to fix my aim.” George fired off a few more shots, none of which hit their mark. “I need to get this down by tomorrow. How did things go with Dylan’s mum?”

“Surprisingly well! They talked for a little bit and she accepted him as an agent.”

“Oh, awesome. She has the communicator now, right?”

“Yeah. Zak just left to meet up with her.” His smile dropped slightly. “The poor guy is going through a tough time right now, so he probably needed this.” 

George nodded as he took aim again to continue firing. “Is Dylan healing okay?”

“Mmhm. He’ll have some scars, but it looks like he’ll be just fine. I don’t know how he made it out of there alive. He’s one lucky kid.” Clay watched as George fired a few rounds into the target, none of them landing on the large red bullseye. “George, your aim isn’t going to be improved overnight. You know that, right?”

“I still need to try.”

Clay walked over to him and pushed the gun down. “No, you need to rest up and stay relaxed. Stressing yourself out over this won’t help anyone.”

George put the gun on the table beside him and sighed as he took the glasses off. “I’m awful at aiming, Clay! I don’t know how you do it!” 

“It took a ton of practice,” Clay said as he lifted the gun up. “I think you need a break from training.” 

George reached for the gun, but Clay held it over his head, just high enough to keep it out of George’s reach. “Clay, please let me do this. If I’m going to continue being an agent after tomorrow, I need to do this.” 

Clay’s expression softened. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about your future with the company.” He sat the gun on the table, but didn’t take his hand off of it to keep George from grabbing it. “I want you to quit.” 

“What?”

“I want you to quit your job here, George. I’ll help you find a new job. Hell, you could even work for me if you wanted! But you can’t work here anymore.”

George surprisingly felt saddened. “What did I do wrong?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Clay admitted. “It’s what you did right that scares me. You’re a honeytrap, so it’s your job to go out and get people to fall for you. It worked with me and it worked with Illumina and it’ll work with others down the line because you are an irresistible person. Even when I wanted to hate you for tricking me, I couldn’t.” He put his hands onto the table and dropped his head, letting his hair fall into his face. “George, I want to make a relationship work between us, but I’m not sure I can if I just watch you flirt with people every fucking day.”

“You want a relationship with me?” 

“No, George, I just want to fuck around with you,” Clay stated sarcastically. “Of course I want a relationship with you! You’re amazing and wonderful and caring and I don’t know how you do it. I literally love everything about you! Like, I love how you’re just constantly giggling and smiling and how even when someone reaches their lowest point, you still show you care. You’re so strong and confident with who you are that you don’t need constant protection from other people.” George didn’t interrupt Clay as he spoke. He had no words to express how overwhelmingly happy he felt. “Oh, and you’re smart too! Don’t even get me started on that. With the proper training, you’d probably be one of the smartest tech people here! You’re perfect in every way possible.” Clay sighed. “So, when I have to sit there and watch you flirt with the enemy, it stings. And on top of that, what if you got hurt? I’d never be able to forgive myself if you were attacked the way Dylan was. I love you too much to allow that to happen.” 

George’s smile fell as he waited for Clay to laugh off that last part. But he didn’t. He looked up, his expression as serious as ever. “Clay, are you serious?”

Clay looked away. “I’m sorry.”

George rubbed Clay’s cheek as he turned his head to face him. “You have nothing to apologize for, Clay.”

Clay studied George’s deep brown eyes. “I can’t lose you. Please, George.” He reached up and held George’s hand against his face. “I can’t breathe without you.”

“You’ll never have to. I’m not going anywhere.” George smiled sweetly. “You’ll have to try quite hard to get rid of me, Clay.” 

“Soooooo….bad time?” Nick asked from behind them, startling them both. They were too caught up in the moment to hear Nick and Zak both walk in. “Darryl wants to go over the plan one more time before tomorrow.” 

George pulled his hand away from Clay and nodded. “We’ll be there. Let me clean up real quick.” 

“There’s no time,” Zak said, opening the door to the gym. “He wants us now.” 

Clay and George followed Nick and Zak into the conference room where Darryl and Wilbur sat, patiently waiting. Darryl motioned for the four of them to all take a seat while he unfolded a map of the docks George had changed Illumina’s pick-up address to. There were arrows and circles drawn all around the map in different colored ink.

Darryl pointed to a blue circle. “Zak, you’ll start here. You’ll take this path down to the water to wait for Illumina to show up. As soon as you see him, shut down all forms of communication he has.” He then pointed to a brown line that was right beside another brown line. “Clay, you’re red. You’ll start here and make your way into the building. Wait for my signal before taking any shots. George, you’re brown. I’ll need you to-” 

“Which one is the brown one?” George asked, looking down at the map. 

Darryl stopped his explanation and pointed to the line right beside the one Clay was supposed to follow. “This one. You’ll be going into the building beside Clay after you meet Illumina and keep him distracted.” Darryl noticed George study the map as if he was trying to memorize it. “George, I’ll send you a copy of it. You don’t have to remember everything.” 

“I won’t be able to read it properly.” 

“Why not?”

“George is colorblind,” Nick explained. 

“Oh!” Darryl said as he looked down at the map. “I can reprint it with different colors if you’d like.”

“No, no it’s fine,” George said, confident he had his path memorized. 

“Alright, let’s go over everything one more time,” Darryl decided as he pulled out a piece of paper from under the map, detailing their every move. “When Illumina arrives, George pretends to bump into him. Play it off like you were on a nightly stroll and wanted to say hi when you saw him. He probably won’t be alone, so we will have to separate him from his men. That’s when you pull him into this building here to keep him busy while we take his men out. Then, once Illumina is out of sight, the rest of us will get rid of his men and join George to arrest Illumina.”

“Sounds like you’ve got this!” Wilbur smiled. “I can’t believe it’s almost over.” 

“Me either,” Nick admitted. “I thought this nightmare would never end.”

Zak pulled his hoodie sleeves over his hands, looking excited. “I’m ready to go on a vacation after this! You guys all down to take a trip somewhere nice?”

“Honestly? I don’t even want to go anywhere,” George explained. “I just want to curl up and sleep.”

“Can I curl up with you?” Clay playfully asked. The two shared a quick look, both blushing at the thought. 

Wilbur laughed. “I’ve got to admit, you’re both quite adorable.” 

“Those are words I’d never thought I’d hear you say!” George laughed. “You were constantly trying to chase me away, yet here you are, calling us ‘adorable’.” 

“I wasn’t rude because I didn’t like you, George.” Wilbur ran a hand through his hair to smooth it out a bit. “I did it because I didn’t want you getting caught up in everything going on. I was hoping that I’d scare you away.” 

“You should’ve tried harder!” Clay joked. “It didn’t work at all.” 

“Yeah, I can see that.” 

Nick stood up from his seat. “Well, I’m going to go rest up and get some dinner. Anyone want to come with?” 

“Darry and I can’t,” Zak responded. “The two of us actually have a date planned.” 

“I can’t either,” Clay answered. “George is going to probably be in the gym the rest of the night, so I’ll be there to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.” George glared at him, but didn’t object. 

Wilbur looked at everyone else, then at Nick. “You know what? I’ll go get dinner with you.” He stood up and pushed his chair in. “Good luck to all of you tomorrow.” 

“Wait,” Darryl called out as they started to leave. “I thought you had to have an agent escort in order to go places?”

“Pretty sure Nick is an agent,” Wilbur pointed out. “If he’s cool with it, then I’m going.” 

“And I’m cool with it!” Nick seemed happy to have someone to accompany him. “Besides, I’m curious to get to know him more.” 

“ _ Oh, really? _ ” George teased. 

Nick rolled his eyes. “Dude, shut up. I’m straight.” He then opened the door and left, Wilbur not far behind him.

Zak grabbed his backpack from beside the chair. “I’ll meet you at the restaurant, Darryl. I need to visit Dylan’s mom first.” 

“That’s fine, love. Tell her I said. ‘Hi’!” 

“Will do! Also, Clay, you may want to fill Dylan in on the plan,” Zak suggested. “Shouldn’t he be aware of what’s going on? I mean, we even told his mom about the plan.”

Clay shook his head. “We can’t tell him. All he needs to know is that we are going to arrest Illumina. If we tell him specifics, he’ll get anxious if it doesn’t go according to plan. It’s best if we keep him in the dark.” 

“Won’t that just make him more anxious?” Zak asked. “I know I’d go crazy if I didn’t know what was happening.” 

“You’re also super paranoid,” Clay pointed out. 

George expected Zak to go off on him, but he instead shrugged. “Yeah, true. I’ll catch up with you guys later. Bye, Darryl!” 

“Bye, Zak!” Darryl returned to his plan on the table. He grabbed a file that was shoved under it and flipped through a few of the papers. “I’m excited for tomorrow. I have a feeling that things are going to go smoothly!” He then picked up the map and the file. “I’ll see you guys later!” 

George winked at him. “Have fun on your date!” 

“I will!” Darryl then left the room, leaving Clay and George alone. 

“So, George, do you still want to work on your aim? I don’t mind giving you a few pointers, but you have to understand that you won’t get better overnight.” Clay waited for George’s response, watching as he had an internal argument with himself over it. 

“You know what?” George finally said. “I think I’ll be alright. I can work on it more tomorrow. Tonight, I need my rest. I think I’ll just hang out at home.” 

“Ooooor,” Clay said slowly. “You could hang out at  _ my _ home.” George giggled. “It’s just a suggestion.” 

“You know what? I think I’d like that.” George’s phone then rang. He checked it and saw he had an incoming call from Dylan. He eagerly picked up and said, “Hey, Dylan!” 

“GEORGE!” George was instead addressed by a teenager with a British accent. 

“Tommy? Why are you calling me?”

“INNIT!” Dylan yelled in the background. “ **Give me my fucking phone you bitch boy!** ” 

“Oh, Dylan let me borrow it to make a call!” 

“ **The hell I did!** ” 

George then heard Toby’s voice in the background as well. “Wait, Dylan! Lay back down! LAY DOWN, DYLAN!” 

Tommy then mumbled, “Oh, shit.” 

After a short scuffle, Dylan was back in control of his phone. “Sorry about that. An asshole stole my phone while I was trying to sleep and made some phone calls. So, Zak mentioned you guys are going after Illumina tomorrow...what’s the plan and how can I help?”

“Oh, well, Clay said that we shouldn’t tell you the plan.” 

“Why the fuck not?” 

“He said that you’d just get anxious if something went wrong.” 

Dylan was silent for a moment, then groaned, “I hate that he’s right. Okay, fine, don’t tell me anything, but promise me that you will try to stay alive? Please? I kinda like you sometimes. And the same goes for everyone else. If someone dies, I’ll kill them.”

George laughed. “Everything will work out just fine, Dylan. As long as we stick to the plan, everyone will make it out alive!”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

———

Word Count: 2242

Two more chapters until the end of "Bang and Burn"! I hope you guys enjoy it's conclusion just as much as I've enjoyed writing for you all! Oh yeah....i is also have big cord of dis. You join now.

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Published: November 9th


	41. Chapter 39

“Agent Sapnap in position.” 

“Agent Dream in position.” 

“Agent Skeppy in position.” 

“404?” Darryl asked through his earpiece. “You ready?” 

George took a deep breath as he watched a black car with tinted windows pull up to the docks. It was the same kind of car that had tried to chase his team down all that time ago. He was scared out of his mind, but he nodded. “404 in position.” 

“Alright, you all know the plan. Good luck, agents. We’ve got this. Badboyhalo signing off.” 

George watched from beside a boat as Illumina stepped out of the car, a briefcase in his hand. He was wearing sunglasses, even though the sun was almost finished setting. He looked out along the shoreline, then began to walk towards the boats. George looked down at his communicator that had the map pulled up one last time, then began walking in Illumina’s direction. 

He tried his best to remain confident, but all of that was shattered when he heard Nick say, “Shit. Technoblade is here. George, retreat.” 

George turned around and started to head back to his hiding spot behind the boat, but he then heard Illumina call out, “George?” 

“This is Skeppy. I’ll take care of Illumina. Continue with the plan.” 

“You’re not doing anything without me, Zak,” Darryl whispered. “I’m on my way over to you. Nick, keep eyes on Techno and make sure he doesn’t see George.” 

“I’m on it,” Nick responds. “He’s still in the car. We can jump him once George gets Illumina out of the way.” 

George took a deep breath and turned around, a smile on his face. “Illumina! What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m here for work. What about you?”

“Just taking a stroll along the water!” George looked out past the boats. “I’ve always loved evening walks like these, but I must admit, they get quite lonely.” He then gave Illumina a sultry look. “Care to keep me company?” 

“Technoblade is moving!” Nick called out. “Skeppy, Bad, let’s do this.” 

George began to panic at the mention of Techno’s name. They failed to take into account that Technoblade could show up with Illumina. George grabbed Illumina’s hand and pointed to the building beside him. “How about we go in there and get a little _cozy_?” 

“I’d like that,” Illumina responded, squeezing his hand. 

George glanced down at his communicator quickly to make sure he was heading in the right direction, then pulled Illumina into the building. It was a dark office building that managed the boats on the docks, as well as any sort of commercial deliveries that were received. The place was empty and would’ve been inaccessible had Zak not picked the lock an hour earlier. There were multiple desks set up with computers, some divided by cubicles. 

“So, now that we’re finally alone, what would you like to do?” George asked, reaching up to play with Illumina’s hair. 

Illumina turned him and pulled him in close. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to do ever since I met you.” 

George ran his hand down from Illumina’s hair to his face. “Oh, yeah? What would that be?” 

He then felt a pain in his stomach. It was sudden, and he almost didn’t feel it at first, but when he looked down and saw the blood beginning to drip from his abdomen and a knife sticking out of him, all of the anxiety and nerves boiled over and caused him to start shaking. Illumina smiled and leaned in. “How stupid do you think I am, Agent 404?” Illumina then grabbed George’s gun tucked into his pants and tossed it across the room.

“ **GET OFF OF HIM!** ” Clay yelled from behind Illumina. He grabbed Illumina by his shoulders and tossed him over a desk, knocking various items like a stample, a cup of pencils, and a stack of paper, onto the floor. Illumina slid across it and fell onto the floor, groaning when he hit the ground. Clay started to go after him, but hesitated, remembering that George was hurt. When he turned back around, he saw George on the floor, shivering as he held the knife in place. 

Clay got on his knees and took off the small backpack he had with him. “George, I need you to stay awake and don’t move. Try to stay as still as possible, okay?”

“How did you get here so fast?” George asked, feeling nauseous. “You were in the other building.” 

“You went the wrong way, idiot,” Clay laughed, hoping it’d help George relax. “You took the red route. You should’ve just let Darryl redo the map in other colors.” 

George cracked a smile. “Yeah, I fucked that one up, didn’t I?” He looked down at his stab wound. “Is it bad?”

“I can’t tell yet.” Clay undid a few of George’s shirt buttons around the area of the knife, then pulled a small first aid kit out of his bag. “Okay, just take some deep breaths and I’ll-”

“CLAY! LOOK OUT!” George screamed as Illumina got up and took aim at Clay. Clay grabbed the stapler on the floor and threw it at him, making Illumina miss when he fired.

“I can’t help you and fight him at the same time.” Clay sighed. “I hate to do this, but you have to call Dylan. He’ll know what to do.” Clay placed the first aid kit in George’s lap. “You can do this, okay? I know you can.” He then planted one final kiss onto George’s lips before pulling away and whispering, “I love you.” Clay then stood up and dove at Illumina as he prepared to fire another bullet. The two went down on the other side of a desk where George couldn’t see. George pulled his phone out of his back pocket and hit Dylan’s contact number. 

“George?” Dylan asked, answering immediately. “Why are you calling? Did you win?” 

“I got stabbed,” George said slowly to try to keep himself from exploding with panic and fear. “Clay and Illumina are fighting right now.”

“Oh fuck,” Dylan mumbled. “Why are you calling me?” 

“Clay said you’d be able to help.”

“Don’t tell him, but I failed my medical training,” Dylan stated as he started to panic. “I can’t help you through this one, but I think I know someone who can. Where’s Nick and the others?”

“Technoblade is here too. They went after him.”

  
  
  
  
  


Nick pressed himself up against the side of the building closest to the black car. Techno had already taken off his seatbelt and was ready to leave. He popped open the car door and stepped out. Before Nick could do anything, he noticed the gun in Techno’s hand. Then, two more men got out of the car behind him. 

“Sapnap to Skeppy and BBH. We’ve got a problem. Techno has backup, and they’re all armed.” Nick looked towards the car again and saw Zak crouching in the ground, his eyes locked to Techno. As much as Nick wanted to be the one to arrest Techno, he knew that Zak needed this. He needed his moment to get his control back that he had been desperately wanting. Zak motioned over his shoulder to show Nick where Darryl was hiding. He was a few feet behind Zak, pressed up against a building. They both looked at Nick to wait for his signal. When he nodded, all three of them jumped into action. 

Nick rushed at one of the guards and knocked him onto the ground. He straddled him and slapped cuffs onto him while Darryl did the same as he pinned the other guard against the car. Techno aimed his gun at Nick, but Zak jumped at him and he missed his shot. Zak grabbed Techno’s left arm to grab the gun from his hand, but Techno pulled him against his chest and held Zak in a tight headlock, making it hard for him to breathe. Techno pressed his cold pistol against Zak’s skull.

“One more move and I shoot,” Techno yelled out. Zak thrashed in Techno’s arms but froze when he heard the click of the trigger as he put his finger in position. Both Nick and Darryl froze, but they didn’t leave their targets. 

“Technoblade, why are you doing this?” Darryl asked softly. “How could you? We trusted you!” 

“The company is bankrupt!” Techno yelled. “I _need_ his money if I’m going to continue funding Forte.” 

“I fucking knew you were corrupt,” Zak mumbled through gritted teeth. “I knew it from day one.” 

“And I always hated you for it.” Techno looked down at Zak, then back at Darryl. “You think I wanted this? You think I wanted to watch my agents get killed?”

Zak’s knuckles went white as he clenched his fists. “You’re just a bad man.”

Technoblade laughed. “Seriously? ‘Bad man’? What are we, five?” He pressed the gun harder against Zak’s head. “I’ve got to admit it, Zak, I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.” 

“Why?” Zak asked. 

“Because some people are too smart to be left alive.” 

Zak shut his eyes tightly, ready to take his final breath, but when he heard a gunshot, he felt no pain. Instead, he felt Techno release him and stumble back as he grunted. Zak looked at him to find him clutching his bleeding left arm against his chest. When he looked back at his teammates, he saw Darryl breathing heavily as he lowered his gun. “No one lays a _fucking_ finger on my boyfriend.” He fired again into Technoblade’s left leg, causing him to fall over. “Techno, you’re coming in with us, and you’re going to answer for your crimes.” He then hit a button on his communicator. “All nearby agents report to ‘EZ Dock of Tampa’. I’ve got a high profile criminal in front of me as well as one in a nearby building.” He looked at Nick and Zak to see them both staring at him in awe. “What?” 

“Darryl,” Zak whispered. “You just said a swear word.” 

“Yeah, and it was terrifying,” Nick admitted. 

Darryl shrugged. “What? I was angry! He was about to hurt Zak. Oh! That reminds me!” Darryl then pressed the button on his earpiece. “Dream? It’s BBH. We’re clear out here. You can safely make your way to 404.” After a few moments without a response, Darryl repeated his statement. Still, no response. “Agent Dream, where are you?”

They all then heard Clay’s earpiece come to life. He sounded like he was struggling to do something. “Illumina stabbed George, and he’s after me now. Get over here ASAP!” His earpiece then cut off. 

“You guys stay with Techno and these guys,” Nick ordered. “I’ll go help them.” 

  
  
  
  
  


“Anna?” Dylan asked. “Anna, can you hear me?” 

“Yeah, I’m here,” xe responded. “What’s the emergency?”

“George, can you hear Anna?” Dylan asked. 

“Yeah. Heard loud and clear,” George replied.

“Okay, George was stabbed, and he needs someone to walk him through how to temporarily treat it,” Dylan explained to Anna. “I added you to our call because you’re good at this thing.” 

“Oh shit, okay,” Anna said, silently preparing to do agent work. “404, where were you stabbed?” 

“In my stomach.” 

“In your actual stomach, or in your abdomen?”

“Uh, I don’t know, um, just above my belly button maybe?” 

“Did you happen to catch the length of the knife?”

“No.” 

“Okay, I need you to grab the gloves in the first aid kit and put them on, then cut your shirt to uncover the wound as much as possible.” 

George popped the case open and inspected the first aid kit’s contents. Mixed in with the various sizes of bandages was a pair of latex gloves, a small pair of scissors, a roll of gauze, pre-packaged pain killer, tweezers, and a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol. As he grabbed the latex gloves and slid them on, he heard a gunshot, which made him panic. But he kept going, knowing that he had to focus on treating himself. He then grabbed the scissors in the case and cut the shirt off as carefully as he could. “Okay, now what?” 

“The knife is still in you, right?” 

“Yeah.”

“That’s fine. We’ll just have to work around it. Grab the gauze from the kit and apply pressure all around the knife as best as you can. I won’t lie, it’ll hurt, but you have to do it.” 

George grabbed the gauze and held his breath as he pressed down on his wound. His entire body tensed up, and he bit his tongue to keep from screaming. It was worse than any pain he had ever felt before. And, just when he didn’t think things could get any worse, Clay and Illumina fell onto the floor right in front of him. 

Illumina got on top of Clay and began repeatedly punching him until Clay managed to catch his fists. He pushed against Illumina’s fist as much as he could, but George could see that his strength was dwindling. He was breathing heavily and had a large red mark on his cheek that would inevitably bruise. While Clay struggled, Illumina managed to reach for the gun he had taken from George earlier and shot Clay in the leg.

“George! Are you okay?!” Dylan yelled through the phone. “Who got shot?”

George didn’t answer. All he could do was watch in horror as the room around him began to spin. Clay began to struggle less and less under Illumina’s weight. His breathing slowed, and his arms fell while Illumina pushed against him.

Illumina held his gun up to Clay’s head and smiled. “ _Finally_.” 

“GEORGE?!” Dylan screamed out. “ **What’s happening?!** ” 

George looked down at the knife in his abdomen, then at Illumina, knowing that if he was going to help Clay, he had to ask fast. He pulled the knife out of his stomach as he screamed in pain, then dove forward and dug the knife into Illumina’s neck. George then collapsed onto the ground beside Clay, taking the weapon down with him. Illumina held the large gash in his neck as he fell over. George listened to him choke on his blood and struggle until he eventually stopped making any sort of noise. 

George returned his hands to his stab wound, which was now bleeding significantly heavier than it was before. He reached for Clay’s hand. “Hey, cutie.”

Clay was out of breath, but he still managed to say, “You’re a fucking idiot.” 

“What?”

“You _never_ pull a goddamn knife out when you just got stabbed!”

“Hey, I saved your life!” 

“But you’re going to DIE now, George!” Clay weakly squeezed George’s hand. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I love you, Clay.”

Clay quietly wheezed. “I love you too, but what you did was so fucking stupid.” 

George looked at him and saw that he was crying. “Hey, don’t cry. Everything will be alright!”

“You got fucking **_STABBED,_ **George! Don’t tell me everything is going to be alright when it’s not!”

“CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?!” Dylan screamed over the phone. 

George reached over and grabbed the phone, then pulled it beside his face. “I got stabbed, Clay got shot, I pulled the knife out and stabbed Illumina, and now I think I’m bleeding out because of it.” 

“WHAT THE FUCK, GEORGE?!” Dylan yelled. “What is **wrong** with you?”

“Hey, maybe don’t yell at him while he’s dying?” Anna suggested. 

“Don’t worry, Clay is already doing that,” George said with a small laugh. “He’s pissed.”

“I’m beyond pissed, George!” Clay sighed. “I can’t lose you like this!”

George’s eyes began to flutter shut. “Everything will be fine.”

Clay took notice of George’s eyes and began to panic. He let go of his hand and shook him. “George, hey, stay with me. Please! I need you.” 

“What’s happening now?” Dylan asked. 

Clay rubbed his thumb over George’s cheek. “Hey, stay with me. I’m right here, okay?” 

“I love you, Clay.” 

“George, please stay awake.” 

“I’ve always loved you. Don’t ever forget that.” 

“George, stop. If this is your way of saying goodbye, I’m going to be pissed.”

George forced a smile. “You take care of yourself, okay?”

Clay closed his eyes, unable to look at George. “I’m not saying goodbye. Not yet. Just please stay with me. Help is coming.”

“Well, since they seem to be ignoring my existence, Anna, how was your day?” Dylan asked. It was easy to tell that he was barely holding it together. 

George reached up to grab Clay’s wrist and hold it against his face. “I’m still here.” 

Then, the door to the office opened up, and Nick stepped inside. As soon as he saw his two teammates on the floor, he rushed over to them and dropped to his knees. “Shit, what happened?”

“ **I’d like to know the same damn thing!** ” Dylan groaned from the phone. 

Nick pressed a finger to his earpiece. “Sapnap to all. We’ve got two agents down. Dream has been shot and beaten, and 404 has been stabbed and is bleeding out.” Nick then inspected the stab wound. “Man, this looks bad.” 

“Yeah, and he pulled the knife out,” Clay explained. “He pulled the knife out to save me.” 

“YOU WHAT?!” Nick yelled. “George! Stab wounds are dangerous! Why the fuck would you _ever_ pull that out?” 

Clay motioned over to Illumina. “Illumina was attacking me, and George used the knife to stab him in the neck.”

Nick looked over his shoulder, noticing Illumina for the first time. “Oh, damn. He’s dead. I’m sure of it.” 

“Go check for a pulse,” Clay ordered. 

“There is no way I’m pressing my hand up to his bleeding neck,” Nick responded. 

“Then check his wrist.” 

“If he’s alive, he’ll grab me and attack, dude!” 

“He’s not alive, Nick!” 

“THEN WHY DO YOU WANT ME TO CHECK HIS PULSE?!” 

“ **GUYS!** ” Dylan screamed over the phone. “Who’s pulse are we checking?!” 

Nick looked down at the phone. “Oh, hey, Dylan.” 

“Don’t you, ‘Hey, Dylan,’ me, dude. Who is dying, who doesn’t have a pulse, and where the fuck is Illumina?!”

“Uh, well, Illumina may or may not have a pulse, and George is straight-up dying,” Nick explained. 

“Why the hell do you all sound so calm about this?!” Dylan sighed into the phone. “Just please let me know when the medics get there to help George and Clay. I don’t want to have to say goodbye.” 

“Should I go now?” Anna asked. “You four seem to be having a tough time.” 

“NO!” Dylan yelled. “Please, don’t go.”

“Okay, I won’t. I promise.” 

Clay then felt George’s grip on his hand loosen. “Nick! Nick, he isn’t holding my hand as tight anymore.” 

“Oh, shit.” Nick felt for George’s pulse and began to panic as it got weaker. “Nonono! George, don’t you die on me. Please, dude.” He started to tremble. “I need you. You’re my best friend. Just please, hold on. Help is coming. Please be okay.”

From the phone beside them, they could hear Dylan sniffling. “Shit. Not again.” 

“Everything is going to be okay, Dylan,” Nick said. Clay could tell he was trying to convince himself of this more than Dylan. 

“Don’t lie to me,” Dylan mumbled. “I hate liars.” 

Clay forced himself to sit up and held George’s head in his lap. He brushed his dark hair out of the way and wanted to scream when he saw that the usual redness in his cheeks was gone. The rise and fall of his chest grew weaker with every breath he took until it was barely visible at all. He pressed his finger to his earpiece and spoke with a scratchy voice. 

“Agent 404 has fallen.” Clay nearly choked on his words, but he knew that someone had to tell the rest of the team. 

Nick shook his head. “No, don’t fucking say that. He’s not dead yet.”

Clay looked up at Nick, the two silently crying together. “Unless he gets medical attention right now, he’s not going to make it.”

“Badboyhalo to team! We are on our way down with a medical crew.”

The doors opened up once again as the medical team came in, followed by Zak and Darryl. Nick backed away from George and Clay, letting the team do their job. The two were placed onto stretchers and carefully lifted. The team also placed Illumina onto a stretcher. While they couldn’t officially pronounce him dead yet, one of them was sure to tell the team that he was no longer a threat. 

“Is he going to be okay?” Nick asked, stopping one of the medics. “Agent 404?”

The medic smiled and nodded. “We will do everything we can and I’m confident he will be as good as new in no time at all.”

As they were carried out, Darryl wrapped an arm around Zak. “They’ll be alright. The team will save them.” 

“What makes you so sure?” Zak asked. 

“If the doctors can save Dylan, then a gunshot and stab wound won’t be a problem at all.” 

Nick let out a light laugh of relief. “So, what happened with Techno?”

“He was arrested, along with the men with him. We’re also organizing a team to go after their accomplices,” Darryl told him. “This whole thing has been crazy! I’m ready for a vacation.” 

Nick shrugged. “It’s just another day at the office, I guess.”   
  


———

Word Count: 3571

Aaaahhhh one more chapter and we are done here folks! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Also, join my discord! I'm holding a poll where my readers get to decide what story I write next, so if you'd like to let me know what you'd like to see, join! Or just join bc I said so. Either way works for me.

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Published: November 15th

  
  



	42. Chapter 40

The cold settled on Zak’s face as he walked into the church, Darryl stuck by his side. It was a beautiful setting, especially for a funeral. The stained glass windows reflected colored light onto the floor, and the pews were shining in the sun coming through a skylight in the ceiling. There were rows of agents that Zak recognized as well as agents he’d never met before. Ahead of them was a casket, decorated with roses. Around the opened end of it, teammates were gathered, mourning their loss. Zak looked at Darryl, unsure of what to do.

“It’s okay, Zak. I’m right here for you, I promise.” Darryl squeezed his hand. “Everything will be alright.”

Zak walked up to the casket, afraid of what he’d find. He just wasn’t ready to see Amb’s body. He clenched his jaw as Brooklyn, who he knew as Agent Thundah, reached into the case to close his eyes. Her hand lingered by him for a few moments as she began to cry. Anna grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away while Feni wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. Zane was holding Avery as the two just stared at the casket, struggling to comprehend that Amb died. When they noticed Zak, they parted to allow him to say his goodbyes. 

Zak looked at Amb’s face and began to cry for the millionth time since he died. Though he felt better every time, it still pained him to see one of his students gone. He lingered for a few moments, sadly staring at Amb, before Darryl pulled him into a hug, holding his head against his chest. 

Darryl cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for your loss, agents.”

Feni shook her head. “It’s alright, Darryl. He just wasn’t made for this world.” She sniffled. “We’ll be okay. We just need time to grieve.” 

“We all do,” a quiet voice said from behind them. Darryl looked to his side to see Dylan beside them, struggling to keep his balance on his crutches. “But we’ll be okay.”

Anna carefully wrapped xyr arms around him, crying quietly while he rubbed xyr back. Dylan’s mother walked up from behind them and rubbed Zak’s shoulder. He met her eyes and sadly smiled, struggling to keep his stinging eyes open. “We should go sit down,” she suggested. “I think it’s going to start any minute.” Everyone exchanged glances, then they made their way down to the pews. 

Darryl guides Zak to the row where the rest of their teammates sat. George was curled up against Clay and Nick was on the other side of them, talking to Floris. Zak sat beside George and took a deep breath. He grabbed Darryl’s hand, trying his best to stop shaking. When Darryl noticed his struggle to keep in control of his emotions, he wrapped his arms around him and held him tightly. It was just what Zak needed to calm down. 

A pastor walked up to the lectern beside the casket and cleared his throat. “Good afternoon, everyone. We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Slater, to give thanks to the time we had with him, and to wish him well now that our time with him is over. While we are all feeling loss, grief, and pain, for Slater, the journey is the beginning. Our lives were all touched by him, perhaps in the tiniest way, or perhaps totally transformed. We would not be gathered here otherwise. Life will not be the same without him. Life should not be the same without him. Slater’s friends and family will now speak about the time they had with him, and some of the pleasant memories they got to share with him. I’d like to turn things over to Atlas.” The pastor held his hand out towards a young man, sitting alone on the front pew.

Atlas stood up and made his way to the lectern, looking incredibly distraught. His hands shook as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. “Um, hi. I’m Atlas, Slater’s twin brother.” He pushed his brown hair out of his face, then coughed into his elbow. “I don’t know a lot of you people, but I’ve been told that Slater worked with you guys, so I guess you’re cool.” 

He placed the unfolded paper onto the lectern and did his best to rub out the folds. “I wrote a little something about my brother. I’m not too great with words, so uh, sorry? Slater and I were close growing up. I was protective of him, and we were always making up some sort of competition for us to do. It started as silly things like, ‘Who can eat the slice of pizza the fastest?’ But slowly, it turned into, ‘Who can throw the knife the farthest?’” Atlas smiled. “I see why he’d work at an agency. He was made for this job, just not made for this world. This was the one place I know he felt accepted. Not even our parents accepted him.” 

Atlas shifted his weight from one foot to another as he struggled to speak. “Ever since he made his transition from female to male, they’ve abandoned him. Honestly, I did too for a little bit because I was uncomfortable with his transition. But Slater was the only person that was always there for me and didn’t think I was some weirdo, so we rekindled our bond, and I became more protective over him than I was before.” He covered his mouth with his hand for a moment as he started crying. He took in a deep breath, then continued. “I never thought I’d outlive him, but here we are. All I have left to do is thank him for everything. Slater, you were my best friend. I’m going to miss you, but I know that we’ll be reunited someday. I love you, brother.” 

Atlas sniffled as he folded his piece of paper back up, then he made his way back to his spot on the pews. Zak felt incredibly sad seeing him sitting alone. He was Amb’s twin, meaning he was only fifteen. He shouldn’t have to be there alone. Zak looked at Darryl and knew that Darryl was feeling the same thing. The two stood up and squeezed past Dylan and his mom to quickly make their way to Atlas. They sat on either side of him, startling him at first. 

Darryl held out his hand and whispered, “Hi! I’m Darryl, and this is Zak. Zak used to teach your brother. Do you mind if we stick with you during the funeral?” 

Atlas rubbed his eyes and smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, that’d be awesome. Thank you.”

The pastor returned to his spot at the lectern. “The next speaker we have is one of Slater’s co-workers, Dylan. If you could please make your way up here, we’d love to hear from you.”

Dylan looked at his mom who gave him a reassuring smile, then got up and made his way over to the lectern. When he made it, he put his arms on the lectern to keep his balance. “Hey there. So uh, I was asked to speak on behalf of a few agents here that had the pleasure of calling Amb their teammate. 

They probably asked me because I’m a soulless asshole who doesn’t feel normal human emotions most of the time.” Dylan pulled a folded up paper from his back pocket. “Amb, I wrote you a little something.” Then, Dylan threw the note behind him. “But I hated it and decided I’d make this up on the fly.” Dylan cleared his throat. “Contrary to popular belief, I never hated Amb. Yeah, he got on my nerves all of the time. He’d give me dirty looks when I’d act up in class which was often. He’d also get the highest score on every test which made it even harder to like him. Oh! And there was that one time he nearly killed Zak! Wasn’t that fun?”

“Dylan!” Zak whispered. “Now is not the time.” 

While Dylan didn’t hear Zak, he did soften up. “I still never hated him. I never could. He was one of the most loyal people I’ve ever met. He went out of his way to protect his teammates at all costs, even if it meant hurting himself in the process. Amb was a model agent that I think every newcomer should aspire to be. I know I do.” 

Dylan dropped his head and let out a sigh that the microphone on the lectern picked up. “Not only was he a good person, but he saved my life. I should’ve died. I really should’ve. I lost so much blood and I thought I was broken beyond repair. But Amb saved me. He threw himself at Illumina to give his teammates and I enough time to escape.” He looked up as he tried to hold back his tears. “There’s nothing like waking up the morning after you were supposed to die. It’s like, you feel dead, but you can still feel everything. 

You feel every cut, every wound, every broken bone in your body. You can feel yourself trying to heal despite not having the energy to do so. But do you know what sucks? You also feel all of the emotional pain. All that time I spent alone in my hospital bed, I spent regretting everything from not telling my mom about my terrible career choices, to being an asshole to certain people.”

He closed his eyes, finally allowing himself to let go and cry. “But you know what? From this moment forward, I’m not going to live with regrets. Death is sudden, and it comes fast and I’m not going to die wishing I had done more. No more walls. No more acts. Just me. Amb, you saved me in more ways than one. While I’ll never be able to thank you, I promise I’ll do everything I can to honor you and what you did for me. Thank you.” 

When the funeral was over, everyone got to relax at the reception where snacks were handed out. George thought it was beautiful. Everything was dressed in white, contrasting everyone’s black, formal attire. He refused to leave Clay’s side as they went around, talking to various agents that George hadn’t met yet. While they all seemed nice, he still felt on edge after finding out that Technoblade had a hand in everything. He worried that he still had accomplices within Forte. Zak, however, was worried about something else. 

“So, what happens now?” Zak asked no one in particular. “Techno was funding everything with Illumina’s help. Without money and someone to run the company, Forte ceases to exist! Guys, we’re losing our jobs!” 

Darryl and Clay exchanged a quick glance, then Clay nodded, giving Darryl the okay to tell their team something he’d been dying to say since earlier in the day. “Forte is going to be just fine. Clay bought the company and will be funding it with the help of some investors. And, he’s asked me to run it for him!”

“Wait, so you’re like, our boss now?” Nick asked, taking a bite out of a tiny sandwich on his plate. 

Darryl nodded. “But, I can’t do it alone.” Darryl grabbed Zak’s hands. “You are the smartest guy I know, Zak. You’re kind and caring and you know what it takes to build teams, go on missions, and train new recruits. Would you join me in running Forte?”

Zak threw his arms around Darryl. “It’d be an honor, love, but what about our team? They’ll be down two members.” 

George’s eyes drifted towards Wilbur, who was talking to Tommy, Toby, and Floris. “You know what? I think I just found our newest teammate if he’s interested.” 

Clay followed his gaze. “You sure about that?”

George grabbed his hand. “Positive.”

“Hey, where’s Dylan?” Zak asked. “I haven’t seen him since his speech.”

The team looked around and quickly spotted him off to the side, talking to his mom and Anna. George walked over to him, pulling Clay along behind him. As they got closer, they heard Dylan’s mom laughing extremely hard as Dylan turned bright red. “Everything alright over here?” George asked. 

Dylan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I just thought I’d introduce my mom to Anna, but as you can see, it’s not going as I hoped it would.” 

His mom caught her breath, then said, “Honey, I knew you were desperate, but I never thought I’d see the day where you call a can of soda your girlfriend!”

“MOM!” Dylan yelled. “I haven’t told anyone else yet!” 

Dylan’s mom pressed her lips into a tight smile while Dylan and Anna glanced at Clay, who didn’t seem to be as entertained. “You two are a thing now?”

Dylan grabbed Anna’s hand. “Clay, I know you may not approve after everything that has happened, but Anna makes me really happy. Xyr one of the only people that actually gets me and I feel comfortable being myself.” Clay raised his eyebrows at him, but Dylan stopped him before he could say anything else. “WAIT! Before you reprimand me, may I remind you that you said the same exact thing to me about George? Cause, you told me that the most important thing is finding someone that makes you happy and supports you. I wouldn’t stop you and George because you two were practically made for each other. Just this once, please put your personal feelings aside and be happy for us.”

Clay nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Dylan repeated. “Seriously?” 

“Seriously, okay. But, we need to set ground rules. No closed doors when Anna comes over, no staying out past ten on school nights and eleven on weekends, and no weapons when you two go out.” Dylan stared blankly at him. “Anna isn’t my favorite person right now, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try to support you.” He then looked at Anna. “Also, I hope you know that you are now dating a dangerous kid who happens to know multiple people who are ready to kick ass in his name at any moment.”

Dylan smirked. “Anna is a badass too. Xe doesn’t need to worry about that.” 

Brooklyn put her hand on Anna’s back. “Hey, it’s time.” She then looked at Dylan. “You can come too. Slater did want you to lower his casket, remember?”

Dylan laughed dryly at her attempt of a joke. “Right. I’ll catch up with you later, Clay.”

As they watched the group leave, George laid his head on Clay’s shoulder. “It’s over. It’s finally over.”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Clay responded.

“And everyone is okay.”

“Yep.”

“And by this time next week, it’ll be back to work as normal.”

“Mhmm.”

“And you really want to kiss me right now.”

“Ye-, wait a minute.” 

George giggled. “I got you there, didn’t I?”

Clay gently kissed George’s Forehead. “I love you, George.”

George closed his eyes. “I love you too, Dream.”

———

Word Count: 2505

That's a wrap, folks! The next chapter is just a thank you and contains a teaser for the next B&B story, so be sure to check it out! Also, discord. Please. I beg.

https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW

Published: November 20th

  
  
  



	43. Thank You + B&B2 Teaser!

~ **Stay tuned for the B &B2 teaser below!~**

Oh. My. Goodness. 

When I started, “Bang and Burn” on July 7th, I would’ve never thought it’d grow into what it has become today. Through writing this story, I’ve learned so much and I’ve met so many amazing people that I am honored now to call my friends. Thank you all so much for reading, leaving your comments (I read every single one of them btw), and being so supportive throughout my journey. 

Thank you to my amazing editors:

Lazy

Maxi

Soup  
Sprite 

Kagi

Alex  
And Grayson

You guys helped me organize my ideas and fix my mistakes in my writing. As time went on, we all improved together as a group and I couldn’t be more thankful for having you guys. This story would’ve been a mess without you all!

Next, thank you to everyone who submitted the OC’s that made it into the story! Below is a list of the OC’s used as well as their lovely creators! More OC’s will be used in future Bang and Burn stories, so if you want to see your OC in the story, join my discord to make a submission!

Slater aka Ambxon - Ambxon

Anna aka Sprite - Sprite

Brooklyn aka Thundah - Rollingsoup

Aiden aka PrismaKi - Rollingsoup

Caroline aka Feni - Feniksiara

Zane (Cat) aka Angel Dust - EleCatxRamen

Avery aka Avocado Kid - Ididnosuchthing

Glaze - Kagiharas

Sylvester aka Red Panda - Maximum

Ruby - Ruby Feynix

Strawberry - Strawberryclouds17

Chad- Awildcatikin

Roo aka Taco - Rootbeersimps

Ciara aka Sparks - Cait

Maddie aka 881 - Lazy

Grayson aka Possum - Grayson

Ray aka RainDrop - Ray

Bugzie - Bugzie

  
  


As some of you already know, “Bang and Burn” currently has a second book and a prequel in the works! I will update this story when I begin to publish the second book in a few weeks, so be on the lookout for it. I will keep my discord updated with all of the latest news regarding it, so if you wish to get updates on when it will begin, join the cult and come say hi! 

If you still want more “Bang and Burn” content, there are multiple characters who have found their home on the discord as well! Tommy, Tubbo, Skeppy, BBH, Sapnap, and Wilbur are all currently active in the server. On special occasions, other characters, such as Dream and George, may also make an appearance! They not only interact with each other, but also with the server! So, if you want to hear more about the character’s lives, feel free to message them! 

_I also may or may not be adding three new characters to the server during “Bang and Burn 2”..._

  
  
  


**Now, here is a teaser for the second part of the series, “Bang and Burn 2: Compromised”!**

  
  


“Did you find any more young agents?” His boss asked him. 

He shook his head. “No, sir. We are trying our best, but we are struggling to find any more.” The young man adjusted the gray beanie covering his dark hair. “The ones that we’ve already located are all under the other agent’s watch.”

His boss leaned back in his chair. “Damn it. You know, I would’ve never thought finding these kids would be so hard.”

“It wouldn’t have been so hard if you’d just stay low like we discussed.”

“Excuse me?” His boss sat up in his chair, glaring at him with intense eyes. “Would you care to explain yourself?”

The young man swallowed hard. “No, sir.”

No, no, tell me what you meant by that.” After a moment of silence, his boss slammed his fist on his desk, making everything in the room rattle. “TELL ME WHAT YOU MEANT BY THAT!”

The young man looked away as he attempted to justify what he said. “You sent someone after that one agent. Uh, Agent Sprite? But they had back-up. If you had just stayed quiet and not gone after what you thought was an easy kill, no one would know we exist.” 

“Who were the other agents with her?” His boss asked. 

“Sir, this agent doesn’t go by those pronouns-”

“ **Who were those other agents?** ” 

“There were three other agents. We were able to identify two of them as Agents Innit and Tubbo, but we couldn’t find anything on the third one with them.” The young man spoke fast, hoping to avoid any sort of punishment. 

“That third one was the one in the black hoodie, right?”

“Yes sir.”

His boss leaned back in his seat. “Find him. Hunt him down and bring him in. Those four took out one of my men, so now, I will take down one of them.”

“Why do you want the guy in black so bad?”

“He was the one that pulled the trigger against one of my men. No one gets away with that.” 

The young man gathered every ounce of courage he had and stated, “Sir, I don’t think we should hunt agents anymore.” His boss froze, but the young man continued talking before he could respond. “All we are going to do is anger Forte as soon as they learn what’s going on. What are we going to do when they realize we are picking off young agents? I’m not going to get arrested for your mistakes.”

“ _My_ mistakes? You’re my second in command. If I go down, you’ll go down too. You can either let me do what I want, or we can both get arrested. It’s your choice, Flatty Patty.” 

The young man felt the anger inside him boil as he left his boss’s office, hoping to never hear that cursed nickname he was given by his boss again.

  
  
  
  


Thanks for reading! 

Much love,

App1es

Discord- https://discord.gg/XcdXzDW


End file.
